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ISLAM
The tax collected in this way is to be kept in the “public treasury” (bayt al-māl) and spent for public and religious services and works, including supporting needy students and feeding the poor. In addition, other religious taxes have been devised to bring about a more just distribution of wealth and prevent hoarding and excessive amassing of wealth by one individual or group.
The Meaning of Exertion in the Path of God: Jihād In the West, Islam is often associated with holy war, despite the fact that the Crusades were ordered by the Cluny monks and the pope, not a Muslim ruler or religious authority. This deeply ingrained distortion of the image of Islam going back to these and other events has caused the Arabic term jihād to be translated as “holy war,” but it means simply “exertion in the path of God.” Recent constant reference to this term by both extremist Muslims and Western media has caused its authentic meaning to become totally eclipsed. Of course, one meaning of jihād is to struggle to protect Islam and its borders, but the term has much a wider usage and meaning for Muslims. First, every religious act, such as performing the s. alāh regularly day in and day out for a whole lifetime or fasting for fourteen hours in a hot climate, requires jihād; in fact, the whole of life may be said to be a constant jihād between our carnal and passionate soul and the demands of the immortal spirit