Zakat on Crops and Fruits: Ushr, Irrigation, and Nisab

1. Scope: agricultural produce and ushr

باب زكاة الزروع والثمار
Translation: Chapter on zakat of crops and fruits.

This chapter addresses ushr, the agricultural levy on crops and fruits. A full ushr is one-tenth of the harvest; in certain irrigation conditions, half of that rate is due.

The passage answers three distinct questions: which produce is covered, whether a minimum quantity is required, and how the method of watering determines the percentage.

2. Abu Hanifah’s general rule

قال أبو حنيفة رحمه الله تعالى: في قليل ما أخرجته الأرض وكثيره العشر
Translation: Abu Hanifah states that both small and large amounts of what the land produces are subject to ushr.

Under Abu Hanifah’s stated rule, there is no separate minimum amount for qualifying agricultural produce: little and much are addressed alike.

This contrasts with the two disciples’ position, which introduces requirements concerning lasting produce and a specified quantity.

3. Small and large harvests

في قليل ما أخرجته الأرض وكثيره العشر
Translation: Ushr applies to both small and large qualifying harvests.

Qalil means a small quantity; kathir means a large one. Their pairing deliberately excludes a quantitative threshold under Abu Hanifah’s rule for qualifying produce.

A small crop does not escape the levy merely because it is small. This should not be confused with the annual nisab rules used for monetary wealth.

4. Natural flowing irrigation

سواء سقي سيحا أو سقته السماء
Translation: Whether it is watered by a flow of water or watered by rain.

Sayh refers to irrigation through flowing water that reaches the land without the continuing work of lifting water.

The text groups it with rainfall. In the naturally watered case the applicable rate is full ushr, or 10% of the qualifying yield.

5. Rain-fed crops

A rain-fed crop falls within the natural-water case.

For a qualifying 800 kg harvest irrigated through rain or natural flow, full ushr would be 80 kg. This is a percentage illustration only, not a conversion of the classical nisab into modern weight.

6. Wood, reeds, and grass

إلا الحطب والقصب والحشيش
Translation: Except wood, reeds, and grass.

The general statement is immediately qualified by three exceptions: firewood, reeds, and grass. The universal wording must be read together with its exceptions.

Later Hanafi commentary discusses particular deliberately cultivated forms separately; do not extrapolate a blanket modern ruling from these three words alone.

7. Reading the exceptions correctly

The particle illa introduces an exception to a preceding general ruling.

Accordingly, “whatever the land produces” is not read independently of the explicit listed exceptions. The exceptions are part of the base text, not a marginal teaching addition.

8. The disciples: produce that lasts

وقال أبو يوسف ومحمد: لا يجب العشر إلا فيما له ثمرة باقية إذا بلغ خمسة أوسق
Translation: Abu Yusuf and Muhammad say ushr is due only on lasting produce when it reaches five awsuq.

Abu Yusuf and Muhammad stipulate produce that can remain in storage, together with a numerical threshold.

This is a distinct rule from Abu Hanifah’s no-minimum statement. The term thamara baqiya concerns durable produce rather than a crop that quickly spoils.

9. Whose rule uses five awsuq?

The five-awsuq threshold belongs here to the view of the two disciples; it should not be retroactively imposed on Abu Hanifah’s rule.

Thus, a measurable durable crop below five awsuq does not meet their threshold even though the general Abu Hanifah rule must be evaluated separately.

10. The wasq and the saʿ

والوسق ستون صاعا بصاع النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم
Translation: One wasq consists of sixty saʿ measured by the Prophetic saʿ.

A wasq is a classical capacity measure, defined here in units of the saʿ: 1 wasq = 60 saʿ.

The Prophetic saʿ is the reference measure. A precise modern kilogram equivalent should not be asserted here without settling the relevant historical measurement conventions.

11. Calculating five awsuq

By the source definition:

1 wasq = 60 saʿ
5 awsuq = 5 × 60 = 300 saʿ

This arithmetic explains the disciples’ numerical threshold without asserting any modern weight conversion.

12. Vegetables under the disciples’ view

وليس في الخضروات عندهما عشر
Translation: Under the two disciples’ view, no ushr is due on vegetables.

For Abu Yusuf and Muhammad, ordinary vegetables do not incur ushr under the durable-produce test.

This conclusion is specifically their stated position; the chapter also preserves Abu Hanifah’s different general rule.

13. Precisely locating the disagreement

Distinguish three questions: quantity, storability, and produce type.

Abu Hanifah covers both small and large qualifying yields subject to exceptions; the disciples restrict the ruling to durable produce reaching five awsuq and exclude vegetables. The irrigation rate is not the same disagreement: the next clause states agreement on that matter.

14. Cost-intensive irrigation methods

وما سقي بغرب أو دالية أو سانية ففيه نصف العشر في القولين
Translation: Produce irrigated with a bucket, water-lifting apparatus, or a saniya owes half-ushr under both positions.

Gharb denotes water raised by a bucket, and daliya and saniya denote traditional lifting mechanisms. Such methods require continuing effort or means of lifting water.

Where this mode governs, the rate is half-ushr, 5%, rather than a full 10%.

15. Agreement on the half-ushr rate

The phrase fi al-qawlayn states agreement on the half-ushr rate in the described irrigation situation.

The jurists can disagree over which crops qualify or what threshold applies while still accepting the same 5% rate when the costly watering method is used.

16. Comparing 10% and 5%

Take a hypothetical qualifying yield of 1,000 kg purely to illustrate the rate.

Rain or natural flow: 1,000 × 10% = 100 kg.

Water lifting requiring effort: 1,000 × 5% = 50 kg.

Whether a particular crop qualifies and meets the relevant threshold must be considered separately.

17. Produce not measured in awsuq

Not every product is conventionally measured in awsuq. The two disciples articulate separate methods for such goods.

Saffron and cotton are the source examples. Their thresholds cannot simply be treated as an ordinary five-awsuq grain quantity without specifying which jurist’s method is being applied.

18. Abu Yusuf: valuation against a wasq-measured crop

وقال أبو يوسف فيما لا يوسق كالزعفران والقطن يجب فيه العشر إذا بلغت قيمته خمسة أوسق من أدنى ما يدخل تحت الوسق
Translation: Abu Yusuf says that for non-wasq-measured goods such as saffron and cotton, ushr is due when their value reaches the value of five awsuq of the least-valued comparable wasq-measured produce.

For goods not traditionally reckoned in awsuq, Abu Yusuf uses a valuation comparison: compare their value with five awsuq of the least-valued produce to which that measure applies.

His test is a price threshold, not a claim that cotton or saffron has the same physical bulk as that grain.

19. Example of Abu Yusuf’s value test

Suppose five awsuq of the relevant least-valued comparison crop were worth Rs 50,000. Saffron worth Rs 48,000 would fall short of this valuation test, while Rs 52,000 would meet it.

These prices are hypothetical, not textual constants; the other conditions for liability remain relevant.

20. Muhammad: the product’s own customary measure

وقال محمد: يجب العشر إذا بلغ الخارج خمسة أمثال من أعلى ما يقدر به نوعه
Translation: Muhammad says ushr is due when the yield reaches five times the higher customary measure used for its type.

Muhammad gives a different threshold: for a product not measured in awsuq, use five units of its own larger customary measure.

Thus the product’s measurement convention, rather than a valuation against the cheapest qualifying grain, determines the threshold.

21. Cotton: five loads

فاعتبر في القطن خمسة أحمال
Translation: Thus he takes five loads as the measure for cotton.

For cotton, Muhammad specifies five ahmal, that is, five loads in the conventional terminology.

This is a classical unit. It should not automatically be equated with a modern sack, vehicle load, or kilogram amount without a measurement study.

22. Saffron: five amna

وفي الزعفران خمسة أمناء
Translation: And for saffron, five manna-weight units are the criterion.

For saffron, Muhammad gives five amna, plural of a classical mann-based weight. The physical magnitude of historical weight measures varies with conventions.

Preserve the book’s named measure rather than assuming a universal modern kilogram equivalent.

23. Two distinct methods among the disciples

The two disciples do not give identical tests here. Abu Yusuf uses a monetary comparison with five awsuq; Muhammad uses five units of the produce’s own larger measure.

Collapsing both rulings into an unspecified “five awsuq for cotton and saffron” would erase the very disagreement recorded by the source.

24. The underlying rule for honey

وفي العسل العشر إذا أخذ من أرض العشر قل أو أكثر
Translation: Honey bears ushr when taken from ushr land, whether the amount is small or large.

Honey is also treated in this chapter when obtained from ushr land. The underlying stated rate is one-tenth of the qualifying honey.

The wording includes both small and large yields, followed immediately by the quantity thresholds stated by Abu Yusuf and Muhammad.

25. Threshold disagreements concerning honey

There is no single undisputed honey threshold in this passage. Abu Hanifah’s general rule covers both small and large quantities; each disciple names a separate threshold.

Keep the source’s ushr-land condition distinct from the juristic disagreement over minimum amount.

26. Abu Yusuf: ten azqaq

وقال أبو يوسف: لا شيء فيه حتى يبلغ عشرة أزقاق
Translation: Abu Yusuf says nothing is due on it until it reaches ten azqaq.

Abu Yusuf exempts honey below ten azqaq. A ziqq is a traditional skin-container measure.

Because the text uses this historical capacity unit, do not invent a modern litre or kilogram equivalent without a dedicated measurement reference.

27. Muhammad: five afraq

وقال محمد: خمسة أفراق
Translation: Muhammad says: five afraq.

Muhammad sets a honey threshold of five afraq. A faraq is a classical measure; afraq is its plural.

This differs from Abu Yusuf’s ten azqaq. A numerical size comparison between the two requires first establishing each historical unit, rather than merely comparing 5 with 10.

28. Keeping the three honey rulings separate

Keep three distinct positions:

Abu Hanifah: honey from ushr land is assessed whether little or much.

Abu Yusuf: a threshold of 10 azqaq.

Muhammad: a threshold of 5 afraq.

Do not combine the different thresholds or attribute one jurist’s measure to another.

29. Produce of kharaj land

وليس في الخارج من أرض الخراج عشر
Translation: No ushr is due on the produce of kharaj land.

The last sentence makes a separate rule for kharaj land: its output is not subject to ushr under this classical legal classification.

This distinction concerns historical land-law categories. Modern ordinary land tax or property ownership does not, by its name alone, establish that a parcel is legally kharaj land.

30. Ushr land versus kharaj land

Ushr and kharaj land are distinct juristic classifications. The honey passage specifies ushr land; the closing sentence exempts the output of kharaj land from ushr.

The former qualifies the honey discussion, while the latter is a general land-category rule for crop output.

31. Four checks before calculating

Before applying an agricultural rate, establish four things:

1. What is the legal classification of the land?
2. Which jurist’s rule is being applied?
3. Does this type and amount of produce qualify?
4. Which irrigation method applies?

A correct percentage is not enough if the foundational liability conditions are misidentified.

32. Integrated review of the chapter

This chapter combines five distinct topics: Abu Hanifah’s small-and-large yield rule; the disciples’ durable-produce and five-awsuq test; natural versus cost-intensive irrigation; separate tests for cotton, saffron, and honey; and the treatment of kharaj land.

The following chapter addresses eligible and ineligible zakat recipients, and is outside the present level.