Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah (Arabic: جزية‎ ǧizyah IPA: [dʒizja]; Ottoman Turkish: cizye; both derived from Pahlavi and possibly from Aramaic gaziyat) is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria. The tax is and was to be levied on able-bodied adult males of military age and affording power (but with specific exemptions). From the point of view of the Muslim rulers, jizya was a material proof of the non-Muslims' acceptance of subjection to the state and its laws, "just as for the inhabitants it was a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes." In return, non-Muslim citizens were permitted to practice their faith, to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy, to be entitled to the Muslim state's protection from outside aggression, and to be exempted from military service and the zakat taxes obligatory upon Muslim citizens.

The word jizya is derived from the root word that refers to “part”, hence taken from a part of the wealth of the non-Muslim citizens. In fact, the use of the word jizya was not even necessary. Al-Tabari wrote that some members of the Christian community asked the companion “Umar bin al-Khatab if they could refer to the jizya as sadaqah which literally means “charity”, which he approved of.

Jamal A. Badawi (Arabic: جمال بدوي‎) is an Egyptian born Muslim Canadian former professor in the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is an author, preacher and speaker on Islam.

He completed his undergraduate studies at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. He left for the U.S. in the 1960s and completed his Masters and doctorate, both in the department of Business Administration, at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He has been serving as a volunteer imam of the local Muslim community in the Halifax Regional Municipality since 1970. He cites Hassan al-Banna and Muslim Brotherhood as his source for inspiration.

In addition to his participation in lectures, seminars and interfaith dialogues in North America, Badawi was invited as a guest speaker in various functions throughout the world. He is also active in several Islamic organizations, including the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR). He is also a member of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the founder and chairman of the Islamic Information Foundation, a non-profit foundation seeking to promote a better understanding of Islam and Muslims towards non-Muslims. He has lectured extensively in North America and abroad, and speaks on a variety of topics including Islam and Christianity and is a guest scholar at The American Learning Institute for Muslims.

Imam Shabir Ally is the president of the Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International in Toronto, Canada. He is a Muslim activist, preacher and speaker on Islam and Muslims.^{[citation needed]} He is also a debater engaging in regular debates in different parts of the world.^{[citation needed]}

He holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, with a specialization in Biblical Literature, and an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Quranic Exegesis.^{[citation needed]} He is now in his fourth year of PhD studies in Quranic Exegesis at the University of Toronto.^{[citation needed]} He currently teaches Arabic at the University of Toronto.

Ally is known for accepting literal interpretation of the Quran verses, but seeks to find their justification in similar expressions within the Christian Bible. To this end he has participated in a number of debates and lectures.^{[citation needed]} Some of the more notable debates include:^{[citation needed]}

Fadel Soliman is a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars who received his Master's degree in Shariah in 2008. Besides being an electronics engineer Fadel is an international speaker, orator and presenter of Islam, he gave his presentations to more than 80,000 in the U.S.A. and other countries throughout the world in churches, universities and governmental departments, such as the American Department of Defense, as well as in international events, such as the Frankfurt International Book Fair, 2004. Fadel trained over 13000 Muslim youths on how to present Islam and refute misconceptions about it through Bridges Foundation workshops in more than 17 countries. He is also a film maker, his series of films on Islam is titled "The Fog is Lifting", part 1 "Islam in Brief" was translated to 30 languages among them is the Hebrew language, part 2 "Jihad on Terrorism" was launched in Hong Kong university and screened in several cinemas around the world from Capetown to Tromso, Norway. "Jihad on Terrorism" explores the root causes of terrorism in order to combat it on solid grounds. Over 200,000 DVDs of both films were distributed around the world by Muslim organizations in an attempt to combat Islamophobia. Soliman founded Bridges Foundation in 2005 which is an international organization specializing in introducing the reality about Islam to non Muslims, train Muslim public speakers and presenters. Bridges videos helped in the de-radicalization of many Muslim youths, Soliman debated the arguments of extremists in his videos in English and Arabic and sees that terrorism committed by states is worse that committed by individuals. To watch Soliman's debates against the arguments of Al-qaeda and his old friend sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki