Draft:Maks

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Maks (Arabic: المَكْس, plural: مُكوس Mukūs; also romanised as Maks or Muks) refers to an unjust tax, toll, or levy collected by a Makis (Arabic: ماكس, tax collector). Historically, it specifically referred to money forcibly taken from merchants selling goods in markets, a practice that predated Islam and was widespread in the pre-Islamic era. In Islamic jurisprudence, Maks is strictly prohibited by scholarly consensus and classified as a major sin (Kabirah), as it constitutes the unlawful seizure of people's wealth. The term is linguistically rooted in the Arabic meaning of "diminishment" or "injustice" (النقص والظلم), and the collector is called a Makis (ماكِس) — one who diminishes or wrongs another.

In pre-Islamic Arabia, the practice of Maks was embedded in market commerce. Traders who entered or passed through tribal market towns were subject to arbitrary levies imposed by those who controlled the territory. These collections were not regulated by law or public benefit but served the interests of the powerful at the expense of merchants and travellers.

With the advent of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad distinguished sharply between legitimate dues and exploitative levies. He instituted Ushur (عشور, tithes) — duties lawfully imposed by the Islamic state on commercial goods imported into or exported from its territory, collected for the public treasury — and explicitly condemned Maks as a grave injustice.^[1]

Despite the prophetic prohibition, Mukūs were reimposed by rulers across different periods of Islamic history when revenues fell short. Scholars such as Badr al-Din ibn Jama'a explicitly stated:

As for collecting taxes and duties on the goods of Muslims transiting from one country to another, or on the sale of goods, this is forbidden from a religious point of view; neither Islamic law nor justice allows it.^[2]

The Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria (1250–1517) was particularly characterised by cycles of Mukūs imposition and abolition: sultans would impose new levies to fund military campaigns, face religious opposition, then retract them temporarily before re-imposing them later.^[2] Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328), writing during this period, vigorously condemned the unjust taxes of his time, affirming that there existed consensus among jurists that the payment of Mukūs is not an Islamic principle.^[3]

Contemporary Islamic scholars draw a clear distinction between modern state taxes (Daribah) and Maks:

Category	Definition & Characteristics	Examples	Legal Status in Islam
Legitimate Taxes (Daribah)	Fixed amounts or percentages imposed by the state under specific conditions to generate revenue for public services, infrastructure, and development.	Healthcare funding, public defense, infrastructure, historical Ushur (trade duties).	Permissible; falls under legitimate Islamic governance (siyasa shari'iyya) at the discretion of the ruler.[4]
Maks	The unjust, coercive, and arbitrary seizure of wealth without a legal or public-benefit basis, typically used to enrich individuals in power.	Levies on heads/livestock beyond Shariah limits, market extortion, illegal protection fees.	Strictly Prohibited; classified as a major sin (kabirah) and comparable to racketeering or highway robbery.[5]

In Ibn Taymiyyah's detailed account, Maks includes levies imposed on people's heads, their animals, their trees, or their wealth beyond the Shariah limit; amounts charged on goods in buying and selling; and sums extracted by rulers on pretexts such as the arrival of an army or reception of a dignitary.^[6] In contemporary terms, Maks is comparable to practices such as racketeering, extortion by criminal organisations, illegal "protection money", and highway robbery.

Maks is considered one of the major sins in Islam because the collector takes what he does not own and gives it to those who do not deserve it. The prohibition is grounded in the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, and the consensus of scholars.

The Quran strongly condemns the unjust consumption of wealth and oppression. Among the verses cited in relation to Maks:

• Quran 2:188 ^{(Translated by Sahih International)}: "And do not consume one another's wealth unjustly or send it [in bribery] to the rulers in order that [you might] consume a portion of the wealth of the people in sin, while you know [it is unlawful]."
• Quran 16:90 ^{(Translated by Sahih International)}: "Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded."

Several Hadiths explicitly warn against Maks and those who collect it:

• Uqbah ibn Amir reported that he heard the Prophet Muhammad say:

  He who exacts a toll (Maks) will not enter Paradise.^[7]

• In the narration of Buraidah regarding the repentance of the Ghamidi woman, the Prophet said:

  By Him in Whose Hand is my life, she has made such a repentance that if the tax-collector (Sahib al-Maks) had made it, he would have been forgiven.

  This Hadith is significant as scholars note it implies the collector of Maks is ranked among the gravest sinners, for whom even repentance would be a rarity worthy of special mention.^[8]
• Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet said:

  The whole of a Muslim is inviolable for another Muslim: his blood, his property, and his honour.^[9]

• Abu al-Khayr reported that Maslama ibn Mukhallad, while governor of Egypt, offered Ruwayfi' ibn Thabit the responsibility of collecting tithes. Ruwayfi' declined, saying:

  I heard the Messenger of Allah say: 'The tax-collector [of Maks] is in Hell.'^[10]

Jurists of all four major Sunni schools of law (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali) concur that Maks — understood as unjust, unauthorised seizure of wealth — is prohibited. Ibn Taymiyyah affirmed that there is scholarly consensus (ijma) that the payment of Mukūs does not constitute an Islamic principle.^[11] Classical works such as Al-Dhahabi's Kitab al-Kaba'ir (The Book of Major Sins) classify it explicitly as one of the great sins.^[12]

While classical scholars unanimously condemned Maks as unjust extortion, contemporary Islamic jurists have debated whether all forms of modern state taxation fall under this prohibition. Two broad orientations exist:

• Textualist scholars argue that any tax not explicitly authorised by the Quran or Sunnah risks being categorised as Maks, emphasising the prophetic warnings.
• Moderate/contextual scholars distinguish between unlawful extortion (Maks) and legitimate state taxation (Daribah) imposed by authorised governments for genuine public benefit, noting that classical Islamic states themselves levied various duties under different names when public necessity demanded it.

Most mainstream contemporary institutions, including the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments of the UAE and similar bodies, hold that legitimate state taxes — imposed transparently, for public benefit, under proper legal authority — do not fall under the prohibited category of Maks.^[4]

• Al-Kaba'ir
• Jizya
• Zakat
• Kharaj
• Ushur
• Taxation in Islam
• Ibn Taymiyyah

Category:Islamic law Category:Taxation in Islam Category:History of taxation Category:Islamic economic jurisprudence