 Taxes for Muslims, rather than being applied to the individual, were instead announced by the government and left to be collected by various corporate entities, such as guilds or quarters, from among their individual members.Yet, an individual head tax was introduced for Muslim residents during the Egyptian occupation of Syria in the 1830s, under Muhammad Ali Pasha, and was continued even after the Ottomans regained control of the region.Not only did this lead to increasing economic burdens upon the Muslim residents of Aleppo, spurring on dramatic decreases in their relative wealth while their Christian neighbors prospered because of connections with Europe, but it also created a sense of disillusionment in terms of the relationship between Muslims and the Ottoman state, for it undermined the distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims, thereby possibly calling into question the role of Muslims as the defenders of Islam as well.