the like of it; because it was narrated from Abu Mijlaz Lahiq ibn Humayd who said: They said to Umar: 'How shall we take from the people of war if they come to us?' He said: 'How do they take from you if you enter into their lands?' They replied: 'The tithe.' He said: 'Then take from them the like of that.' Also, from Ziyad ibn Hudayr, he said: 'We would not collect the tithe from a Muslim nor from a protected subject (mu‘ahid).' He said: 'Whom would you collect the tithe from?' He replied: 'The disbelievers of the people of war; we take from them as they take from us.' Al-Shafi‘i said: 'If he enters to us for trade in something that the Muslims do not need, the Imam does not grant him permission except for a compensation he stipulates upon him, and whatever he stipulates is permissible. It is recommended that he stipulates the tithe, in order to conform with the act of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. If he grants permission absolutely without a condition, the school of thought holds that nothing is taken from them, because it is a safe-conduct without a condition, so nothing is entitled thereby, like a truce.' It is possible that the tithe is required because Umar took it. Our evidence is what we narrated in the previous issue, and because Umar took the tithe from them, and this became well-known among the Companions, and the Caliphs after him [and the Imams after him] in every era acted upon it without objection; so what consensus could be stronger than this? It was not reported that he stipulated that upon them at the time of their entry, and this cannot be established by conjecture without a report. Furthermore, an absolute command is interpreted based on what is customary in the Shari‘a, and the taking of the tithe from them continued during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, so it is obligatory to take it. As for Umar's questioning about what they take from us, it was only because they asked him about the manner of taking and its amount, then the taking continued without inquiry. If our taking from them were restricted to their taking from us, it would have been necessary to ask about it at every instance.