to a man, “Harvest this crop in return for one-third of it,” and he harvests it for that one-third, then no zakah is due on the third, because he did not own it when zakah became obligatory; rather, he acquired ownership of it afterward.

Thus, we have two conditions:

First: reaching the nisab.

Second: that the nisab be owned by him at the time zakah becomes due.

His statement, “Nor is zakah due on what he gathers from that which is freely available, such as butm, zaʿbal, and cottonseed”: “that which is freely available” refers to what grows in the open land by Allah’s bringing it forth. If a person gathers a large amount of it, no zakah is due on it, because at the time zakah becomes obligatory it is not his property. For freely available things—such as grass and the like—do not become a person’s property until he takes possession of them.

Zaʿbal, with the metrical pattern of Jaʿfar, is mountain barley.

As for “cottonseed,” our shaykhs say that it is the ear of grass; and grass is called among us riblah.

His statement, “even if it grows on his land”: the word “even if” indicates a point of disagreement, for some scholars held that if it grows on his land, it belongs to him; and if it belongs to him, then he owned it when zakah became obligatory.

The authoritative position is that what grows on his land through Allah’s act is not his property, though he has a greater right to it than anyone else. Thus, based on the difference between the two views: