The tax imposed on able bodied non-Muslim men of military age The tax is not supposed to be levied on slaves, women, children, monks, the old, the sick, hermits and the poor, though these provisions were abandoned in later periods of Muslim history. Non-Muslim citizens who pay the tax are permitted to practice their faith and to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy as well as being entitled to Muslim protection from outside aggression and being exempted from military service amongst numerous other exemptions to levies upon Muslim citizens.