The Administration of the Zakah

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The Administration of the Zakah (3/5)

Abu`l Hasan al-Mawardi


3. The third category of zakatable goods comprises crops. Abu Hanifah considers it an obligation on all crops, while according to ash-Shafi’i, it is only obligatory on whatever is sown by people to be used as storable food-stuffs; according to him, it is not an obligation on green beans and salad greens, nor on non-comestible items like cotton and linen, nor on what grows in the valleys and mountains which is not planted by man. According to him, it is taken on ten kinds of crops: wheat, barley, rice, maize, Egyptian bean, haricot bean, chickpeas, lentils, millet and julban- wheat. As for 'alas, a kind of wheat with a double husk, it is include in the latter; zakah is not payable when it is still in the husk, unless the amount reaches ten wasq; it is likewise in the case of rice which is still in the husk. As for suit, a kind of barley, it is calculated with the latter. Jawars is a kind of millet, and is also included along with the latter. Apart from these, there are different species which cannot be included with each other. As for Malik, he includes barley with wheat, and he combines lentils and bean-like plants in a group called the qutniyyah.


The zakah on crops becomes due when they acquire their strength and vigour; it is only taken after threshing and winnowing, and when each reaches five wasq y while for any amount less than this no zakah is payable - although Abu Hanifah considers it obligatory on any amount, both small and large.


When the owner cuts his crops as if they are fresh or green vegetables, he is not liable to zakah, although it is disliked (makruh) for him to do this as a means of escaping payment, while it is not disliked if he does it out of necessity.


If a dhimmi owns some 'ushr land (land on which the 'tenth* of crops is paid as zakah) and he cultivates it, the fuqaha differ as to its ruling. Ash-Shafi'i is of the opinion that there is no 'ushr (tenth) nor kharaj to pay. Abu Hanifah, however, submits it to the kharaj and considers that this is not annulled even after the person becomes Muslim. Abu Yusuf says that twice the amount of tax payable by a Muslim is exacted from him, and then the extra amount is annulled if he becomes Muslim. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan and Sufyan ath-Thawri say that the tax payable by a Muslim is taken, and it is not doubled up.


If a Muslim cultivates some kharaj land, a tenth of the crops together with the kharaj tax of the land is taken, according to ash-Shafi'i; Abu Hanifah prohibits this combination of the two.


Payment is restricted to the kharaj tax alone for the person renting out the kharaj land, and to a tenth for the cultivator. Abu Hanifah, however, says that the tenth part is payable by the person renting out, as well as by the cultivator.


These three types of goods are all those classified as manifest.


4. As for the fourth kind of wealth, silver and gold, they are counted among the hidden goods. Two and a half per cent is payable, since the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "On silver, a quarter of a tenth." The nisab of silver is two hundred dirhams, using Islamic weighting, that is six daniq to a dirham, ten dirhams weighing seven mithqal On two hundred dirhams, five dirhams are payable, that is a quarter of a tenth; there is nothing to pay on less than two hundred, but anything over this sum is calculated according to the additional amount. Abu Hanifah, however, says there is no zakah payable until this addition to two hundred amounts to forty dirhams, in which case, a sixth dirham is due. Minted silver and ingot silver are both treated in the same manner.


As for gold, its nisab is twenty mithqals, according to Islamic weighting, and two and a half per cent is payable, that is half a mithqal, and then proportionally for any amount over this; both ingot-gold and minted gold are treated alike.


Silver is not included with gold, and the nisab of each is considered individually, although Malik and Abu Hanifah add the smaller quantity of one together with the larger quantity of the other, and calculate the former in relation to the latter.


When trade is undertaken by means of dirhams and dinars, zakah is payable on them both, and any profit made on these monies is added to them when one year has passed, as the zakah of silver and gold becomes obligatory after a year has passed on them. Dawud exempts zakah on the monies used in trade, and thus represents an isolated opinion in opposition to the general consensus.


If silver and gold are transformed into jewellery whose use is permitted, no zakah is payable, according to the better of the two opinions from ash-Shafi'i, and this is also the opinion of Malik; according, however to the weaker of the two, it is obligatory, and this is also the opinion of Abu Hanifah. When, however, they are used for jewellery which is not permitted, or for vases, then zakah is obligatory, according to all jurists.


As for mines, they belong to the class of manifest goods. The fuqaha differ as to what materials zakah must be paid on. Abu Hanifah considers it is obligatory on all materials which are minted, namely, silver, gold, copper and brass, and he exempts those which cannot be minted, like liquids and stone; Abu Yusuf considers payment obligatory on those materials from which jewellery is made, such as precious stones; according to the madhhab of ash-Shafi'i, it is obligatory on the produce of silver and gold mines only, when the quantity extracted attains the nisab, after smelting and refining.


As for the amount of tax which is levied on these materials, there are three opinions: the first that it is two and a half per cent, like gold and silver that has been acquired; the second, that it is a fifth, like buried treasure; the third, that the circumstances should be taken into account: if the cost (of extraction) is great, then two and a half per cent, and if insignificant, then a fifth. The passing of a year is not taken into consideration as it is treated as a gain whose zakah is taken immediately.


As for treasure, that is any wealth from the pre-Islamic age found buried in disused ground or a public pathway, it belongs to the person who finds it, and he must pay a fifth, the proceeds of which are utilised like that of zakah, based on the saying of the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: “There is a fifth to pay on buried treasure." According to Abu Hanifah, the finder has the option of either making it known or hiding it, and the Imam has the choice, if it is made known to him, of either taking a fifth or renouncing it.


Whatever is found in land which is owned, it obviously belongs to the owner of the land, and the finder has no claim over it; he cannot claim anything off the owner except the zakah if he has already paid it on behalf of the owner.

(Continued)