the dhimmis, so they granted them permission on the condition that their prices be entered into the public treasury (bayt al-mal). When 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz assumed power, he shunned those purchases due to the confusion of matters therein, owing to what had occurred regarding inheritances, women's dowries, and the settlement of debts; he was unable to rectify it or ascertain those matters, so he wrote a letter, which was read to the people in the year one hundred, that whoever purchased anything after the year one hundred, his sale would be annulled. He designated the year one hundred as the cutoff year, so the people ceased purchasing it. They then made many purchases that were in the hands of their owners, upon which tithes ('ushr) were paid and no jizya was imposed. When authority reached al-Mansur, those purchases were referred to him, noting that this had harmed the kharaj and diminished it (64), so he desired to return them to their owners. It was said to him: "They have already been included in inheritances and dowries, and their status has become confused." He dispatched administrators, among them: 'Abd Allah ibn Yazid to Homs, Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash to Ba'labakk, and Hidab ibn Tawq and Muhriz (65) ibn Zurayq to the Ghuta. He ordered them not to impose kharaj on the great, ancient land grants (qata'i') and orchards (66). They imposed the kharaj on what remained in the hands of the Nabataeans, and on orchards created after the year one hundred until the year in which he conducted the assessment. Thus, what an Imam has sold, or what was sold with his permission, or what its return (67) was rendered impossible, should follow this course, in that a kharaj proportionate to what it can bear (68) is imposed upon it, and it remains in the hand of its purchaser, or the one to whom it was transferred, except for what was sold before the year one hundred, for there is no kharaj upon it, as was reported in this account.

Section: The ruling regarding the granting (iqta') of this land is the same as the ruling for its sale, in that what was from 'Umar, or from before the year one hundred, belongs to its owners, and what was after that has a tax imposed upon it, as al-Mansur did, unless it was without the Imam's permission, in which case it is void. Ibn 'A'idh mentioned in his...