upon it until the time of outputting is the responsibility of its owner, just as it is here. If the collector takes the Zakah before drying, he has done wrong, and he must return it if it is still fresh in its state; if it has perished, he must return its equivalent. If he dried it and it equaled the amount of Zakah, he has fulfilled the obligation; if it was less, he takes the remainder; and if it was more, he returns the excess. If the owner of the property outputs it, it does not suffice him, and he is obligated to output the excess after drying, because he outputted something other than the obligatory amount, so it did not suffice him, just as if he outputted a small animal from livestock instead of a large one.
Section: If it becomes necessary to cut the fruit before its completion due to the fear of thirst or the weakness of the palm heart (jummar), it is permitted to cut it; because the right of the poor is only obligatory by way of sympathy, so a person is not burdened with that which would destroy the essence of his wealth. Furthermore, preserving the essence is more protective for the poor than preserving the fruit, because their right recurs by preserving it every year, as they are partners of the owner of the palm trees. Then, if drying the fruit suffices without cutting all of it, he should dry it; and if only cutting all of it suffices, that is permitted. Likewise, if he wishes to cut the fruit to improve what remains of it, it is permitted. When he intends to do this, the Judge (al-Qadi) says: The collector is given a choice between partitioning the fruit with the property owner before harvesting by estimation and taking their share as a separate palm tree and taking its fruit, or harvesting it and partitioning it with him by weight and distributing the fruit among the poor, or selling it from the property owner or someone else before or after harvesting and distributing its price among the poor. Abu Bakr said: The Zakah is upon him for it in its dry state, and he mentioned that Ahmad explicitly stated this. The ruling is the same for grapes that do not become raisins, such as the khamri type, and fresh dates that do not become
(61) In the original and (B): "biha" (with it). (62) In (A), (B), and (M): "al-saghir" (the small [animal]). (63) In (A) and (M): "khawfan" (fearing). (64) In (A) and (M): "fi" (in). (65) In the original and (B): "jami'ahu" (all of it).
