Photo Purports to Show Receipt Given to Christian Who Paid Protection Tax to the Islamic State

A photo has emerged purporting to show a receipt issued to a Syrian Christian living under Islamic State rule who was forced to pay a jizya protection tax to the extremist group aiming to establish a caliphate in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

The website MCN, which covers news about the Middle East’s minority Christian community, shared a photo of the receipt that has been circulating online and is reported to have been issued in December in the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa.

photo for receipt for one of the Christians in #Raqqa Paying taxes for #ISIS 27000 SP #Syria pic.twitter.com/gN7wrU6TGq

— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_Sl) March 20, 2015

In the areas it has conquered, the Islamic State group has told Christian residents to either convert, pay a jizya protection tax, or be killed.

The receipt was originally posted by the group “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.”

The pro-Israel blog Elder of Ziyon noted that the receipt appeared in the Arabic news media over the weekend.

Thousands of Christians have fled their homes in Syria since the Islamic State group has spread. In February, the jihadist group posted a video showing its militants beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on a Libyan beach.

A knife-wielding Islamic State fighter declared in the video, “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for,” referring to Christians.

The jizya tax was paid historically to Muslim rulers by dhimmis, or non-Muslim second class citizens, to buy them protection. The practice originated in the time of the Koran and continued during the caliphates of the Middle Ages.

TheBlaze is unable to independently authenticate the document.