440 - Issue: Abu al-Qasim said: "Everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) brings forth from the earth, which dries and remains, which is measured by volume, and which reaches five wasqs or more, is subject to the tithe (ushr), if its watering is from rain or flowing water (1). But if it is watered by buckets, camels, or anything involving cost (2), then it is half the tithe."
This issue contains several rulings. Among them is that Zakah is obligatory on whatever combines these characteristics: being measurable by volume, remaining (durable), and being dry, from among grains and fruits that are cultivated by humans, if they grow on their land, whether it is a staple food, such as wheat, barley, hulless barley (3), rice, sorghum, and pearl millet (4); or legumes (5), such as fava beans, lentils, mung beans (6), and chickpeas; or spices, such as coriander (7), cumin, and caraway; or seeds, such as flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, and cucumber seeds; or the seeds of garden herbs, such as garden cress (8), radish seeds, safflower seeds (9), lupin, sesame, and other grains. It is also obligatory on that which combines these characteristics among fruits, such as dates, raisins, currants (10), almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts. There is no Zakah on other types of fruits,
(1) In A, B, and M: "and al-suwah". Water that flows is called sayh. (2) Al-kulaf: plural of kulfa, which is whatever is spent on a thing to obtain it, whether in money or effort; this is a technical term. (3) Al-sult: It is said to be a type of barley that has no husk, and it is said to be a type of it with a thin husk and small grains. (4) Al-dukhn (pearl millet): an herbaceous plant with small seeds like sesame seeds. (5) Al-qutniyah, with a kasrah, narrated by Ibn Qutaybah as light (without shaddah) and by Abu Hanifah as heavy (with shaddah): the grains that are stored. Lisan (Q-T-N). Then the author of Al-Lisan narrated it with a damma on the Qaf—a pen error—and said: whatever is other than wheat, barley, raisins, and dates, or it is a collective noun for grains that are cooked. (6) Al-mash (mung bean): a grain; Al-Firuzabadi mentioned it is well-known and balanced, and it is used for medicinal purposes. (7) This is how the author mentioned it with a fa, but it is with a ba (kusbara). (8) Al-rashad (garden cress): an annual herb that has pungent seeds called habb al-rashad. (9) Al-qurtum: the seeds of safflower. (10) In A and M: "and apricots (al-mishmish)". This is a mistake; it will be mentioned later. Al-qashmish is the kishmish, which is a small raisin that has no pits. Al-Jami' li-Mufradat al-Adwiya 4/21, 72.
