Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 118: Looking ahead, I shudder
The reception room in Skar Village looked exceptionally bright because the surrounding walls were painted white.

This is completely different from various architectural styles of the same period, revealing a simple and powerful beauty.

The surrounding houses are even more magnificent, exuding a sense of dignity compared to traditional Middle Eastern houses.

The more magnificent the house became, the more uneasy Tariq felt.

After all, building a house requires money, and where does the lord of Skar Village get the money?
Was it looted from the peasants? Of course not.

In Tariq's opinion, the money used by the new lord to repair houses, dig water conservancy projects, and train troops must have been confiscated from the properties of Ahmed, the tax farmer.

Unlike other tax farmers, Tariq was originally a businessman. He spent a large sum of money to buy the tax farming rights from Reynard last year, and then this year he encountered the sudden appearance of "Elsa's Brother".

Before he had the chance to do anything too outrageous, he was frightened.

Tariq also witnessed Ahmed's trial.

When he noticed the personal charm displayed by Gairis and his ability to mobilize the people, he also discovered that Gairis might have the royal power backing him up.

Tariq knew that things were about to change in the northern part of Transjordan.

Therefore, during this period of time, he behaved very modestly, treated people kindly everywhere, and even found reasons to return some of the extra money he had extorted before.

Sure enough, after just two or three months, Gailis became the supervisor of this territory.

In addition, after careful study of the model of the constituency council near the village of Skar, Tariq found that Gairis did not need a group of tax farmers to help collect taxes at all.

After all, the bulk of the money has actually become the caravans. If Garys needs food, he will choose to buy commercial grain directly from farmers instead of levying taxes in kind.

When the farmers have money, they will buy iron tools from Gellis to improve their production efficiency.

The entire territory has entered a positive and virtuous cycle, which is far superior to the previous crude tax farmer system.

Since Gairis doesn't need the tax farmers to make money, and Gairis will have absolute prestige in the territory, then in Tariq's view, the wealth originally controlled by the tax farmers... will become the tax farmers' way to death.

Tariq, in particular, also noticed the team led by Simon and Khalid. In the past few days, that team has traveled all over the territory, interviewed all the farmers, and investigated the blood debts...

This scared Tariq. He quickly took out some money from his own treasury and sent it to the Skar Village in the name of a gift to the lord.

I was afraid that I would be taken away and slaughtered as a fat sheep.

To be honest, after a few days of peace and quiet, Tariq thought the matter could be put behind him.

But suddenly, a messenger came to tell him that Gaillis wanted to talk to him.

Tariq was flattered, well, mostly shocked.

In the past, whenever he saw those arrogant tax farmers, he would drool a foot long.

I was able to get a position thanks to the money I had saved over the years.

But he didn't expect that he would lose all his money before he even got his money back, and now he was afraid that he would be slaughtered like a fat sheep.

When he saw Garys walk into the conference room with a kind smile on his face, Tariq looked ahead and shuddered, as if he had already seen his own bleak future.

After sitting down, Gailis called out affectionately, "Tariq."

"I am here, sir." Tariq said in awe.

"You know me, right."

"You, you are the Emir here." Tariq stuttered.

He didn't quite understand the word "butler", but it was almost the same as "Emile".

In many places in later generations, Emir evolved into a noble title or head of state, but in the 12th century when the Seljuk Empire had just collapsed, Emir roughly meant "the person in charge."

"Do not be afraid."

"I-I'm not afraid."

Although he said so, his trembling expression had already revealed everything he was thinking.

"Well, today, I asked you to come here because I have something small to discuss with you."

"Sir, please speak."

"I think this tax-farmer system is a little outdated."

After hearing what Garys said, Tariq was stunned. What he had expected had completely become a reality. The money he had previously handed over to Reynard was truly wasted.

As a new tax farmer, Tariq naturally understands the flaws of the tax farmer system. For a tax farmer, the right to farm taxes is actually an investment, and businessmen will inevitably seek short-term returns when investing.

This forced the tax farmers to force farmers to sacrifice long-term development and engage in various short-term income-generating activities. Moreover, due to the cruel exploitation of the tax farming system, the grassroots population had no way to accumulate wealth, making it difficult to effectively and spontaneously improve the production model.

If Gairis were to give an example, he would say that at the end of the 15th century, the Ottomans had completely conquered Asia Minor, a region with a population of about million.

After three hundred years of intensive cultivation by the Ottomans, by the end of the 18th century, the population of Asia Minor was still about million.

For three hundred years, there were no large-scale wars... The population under the Ottoman Empire remained stagnant, and even many areas experienced a population decline. This shows what consequences the tax farmer system would lead to, and how much resentment it would cause at the grassroots level.

Tariq really understood what Gairis meant when he said that the tax-farming system was out of date.

Seeing Tariq's expression that seemed like he was about to cry, even Garys was moved. The tragic loss in business brought Tariq unspeakable mental pain.

"However, considering that you have always been kind to the people and helped Leonard collect taxes, and that it is all within a reasonable range, I can give you a way out."

"what?"

Tariq's mouth opened wide for a moment as he listened to Garys' words.

"I think it's time to sort out the Zakat for Muslims in this territory."

"I think you should know my identity."

Tariq on the side nodded quickly. He knew about Garys's public announcement. Regardless of whether it was true or false, Tariq did not dare to express any doubt in front of others.

"The Prophet Muhammad was indeed extremely intelligent and had a compassionate heart towards Muslims all over the world. He established Zakat to help the poor among his Muslim brothers."

"But nowadays, some imams in mosques are suspected of abusing zakat."

"As a prophet who inherited the aspirations of the Prophet Muhammad, I naturally have to correct those illegal activities."

"But I am too busy to handle everything now, so I need someone to supervise and help me sort things out. This responsibility is naturally not something I can give to the Franks..."

The implication in Gailis's words was already quite obvious.

"Zakkat?"

"Correct."

As soon as he heard this word, Tariq came back to his senses. Everything was fine now and he felt at ease.

[It is not good to turn your faces toward the east and the west. Good deeds are believing in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Book and the Prophets, and giving your loved property to relatives, orphans, the poor, the strangers, the beggars, and redeeming slaves, and performing the prayers and paying the alms, and fulfilling one's promises, and enduring poverty, hardship, and war. These are the faithful, and these are the pious.]

— Quran 2:177
Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. According to Islamic regulations, when a Muslim's personal assets exceed a certain limit, he or she must pay taxes at a certain rate.

This zakat is used to give alms to the poor and needy, only in this way can the wealth one possesses be pure.

Theoretically, zakat should only be given to eight types of people: the destitute, the poor, the zakat managers, those whose hearts are united, those who are unable to redeem themselves, those who cannot repay their debts, those who are struggling for the Lord, and those who are poor on the journey.

However, theory is theory. In actual operation, it is often difficult to supervise the use of zakat by zakat administrators. There are even cases where rulers directly collect zakat and use it to satisfy their personal interests.

At the same time, zakat can be said to be an important source of income for grassroots Islamic scholars such as imams, mullahs, and imams.

The Imams, who are the managers of zakat, allocate zakat to him according to his salary, even if he himself is not short of money.

As soon as Ghairis mentioned zakat, Tariq felt that Ghairis was trying to extort money from others, not himself.

In the territory, Gailis did abolish the harsh secular taxes, retaining only one "royal tithe".

But this was zakat from Islam itself, and it was not easy for Ghairis to interfere and help the Prophet Muhammad abolish it.

Moreover, in Gellis's view, although Zakat means religious tax, the way and amount of its collection are more reasonable than the Catholic church tithe.

It gives examples of various situations where it is inconvenient to pay Zakat and provides systematic reasons.

Why should we abolish such a good thing?

However, Gairis believes that the right to collect zakat should not continue to be in the hands of the imams of various mosques.

After all, he was also an Imam who had returned from seclusion and was the Imam of thousands of peoples in the world.

As a prophet who inherited the will of the Prophet Muhammad, Gairis felt that he was qualified to express his views on the overall development of Islam and to help the Prophet Muhammad to discipline some unfilial young people.

Of course, Garys was unable to handle everything on his own and needed someone to help manage it for him. Just when he was about to fall asleep, someone brought him a pillow.

Isn't Tariq, who is quite self-aware, just coming to our door?
(End of this chapter)