For example, the Prophet’s statement: “On crops watered by rain, one-tenth is due.” (1) And in the hadith of Anas ibn Malik concerning the document on zakah that Abu Bakr wrote: “Regarding silver, for every two hundred dirhams, one-quarter of one-tenth is due”—riqqah means silver. It likewise mentions grazing livestock: “For every five camels, one sheep is due, and for every forty sheep, one sheep is due.” (2)
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The Prophet would send collectors to collect zakah from the owners of livestock and from the owners of fruit crops, (3) without instructing them to inquire whether they had debts or not. Yet it was generally the case that the owners of fruit crops had debts in the time of the Messenger of Allah, since it was their custom to enter into advance-payment contracts for fruit one or two years ahead. Thus, the owner of an orchard would have a debt arising from such an advance payment. Nevertheless, the Prophet would assess the yield of their fruit crops and collect zakah from them.
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Zakah is due upon wealth: “Take from their wealth a charity.” [al-Tawbah: 103] The Prophet sent Muadh to Yemen and said: “Inform them that Allah has made charity obligatory upon them from their wealth, to be taken from their rich and returned”