Non-Muslims would also have to pay a traditional special tax known as jizya. Under Maududi's Islamic state, this tax would be applicable to all able-bodied non-Muslim men—elderly, children and women being exempt—in return from their exemption from military service, (which all adult Muslim men would be subject to). Those who serve in the military are exempted. Non-Muslims would also be barred from holding certain high level offices in the Islamic state. Jizya is thus seen as a tax paid in return for protection from foreign invasion, but also as a symbol of Islamic sovereignty.