I mentioned that only the poor non-muslims who could not pay the Zijya tax had to convert to Islam. Those who could pay the tax were allowed to keep their religions.
That is the reason that today only about 15% people are muslims, and 80% are still Hindus. And I think, that is also ONE of the reasons, why the muslims in India are realtively poorer than the Hindus. (This is my observation only).
second point:
The tax called Zijya was only for the non-muslims, in addition to the land taxes (for all). Even Hindus had to pay "pilgrimage" tax for going to Hindu pilgrimage sites.
Excerpt from article by Richard Hooker:
The most important part of the bureaucracy was tax collection. Akbar made several innovations. His tax, like all other states, was a land tax that amounted to one-third of the value of the crops produced on it each year. However, the tax was assessed equally on every member of the empire%u2014a radical innovation considering that every other state in the sixteenth century rarely taxed the nobility. He also eliminated the tax assessed on non-Muslims. From the beginning of the Islamic expansion, a special tax was levied on non-believers. This special tax, called the jizya , was bitterly resented all during the history of Muslim rule in India. In addition, Muslim rulers in India charged a "pilgrimage" tax on unbelievers travelling to various Hindu pilgrimage sites. Akbar eliminated this tax in 1564. -----------------
