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BradleySigma t1_iu8ha2c wrote

Reply to comment by TurkeyDinner547 in TIL Jewish persons could not hold public office in Maryland until 1826 by synonyco

> Non-Muslims living in the Ottoman Empire had to pay extra taxes.

IIRC, the military comprised of conscripted Muslims, and so the extra tax was essentially an alternative to national service.

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Legio-X t1_iu9p366 wrote

This was part of the official reasoning. In practice, the tax was designed to be enough of a burden to incentivize conversion.

So were all the restrictions placed upon them: they couldn’t carry weapons, they couldn’t ride horses or camels, they couldn’t build new houses of worship, they couldn’t testify against Muslims in criminal cases, their houses couldn’t overlook Muslim ones, they couldn’t practice their religion in certain ways (no public religious processions, no ringing church bells or blowing the shofar, etc.)…the only way to stop being a second-class citizen was converting to Islam.

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