a tithe (1). Yet this is a concise statement that Abū ʿAbd Allāh has explained elsewhere, clarifying the basis for it (2).

In the transmission of juristic opinions, if the narrator is unaware of the jurist’s underlying rationale, he will often fall into error.

The advocates of this view have made their reasoning explicit: they draw an analogy between cultivation and commerce. When a dhimmī engages in trade outside his own land (3)(4), he is charged double what is taken from Muslims—namely, one-half of one-tenth. By the same token, they say, when he brings under cultivation land that is not originally his (5), he should be charged the same; in both situations he seeks profit outside his native domain. Cultivation and commerce are twin concerns, as in His words: “O you who believe, spend of the good things you have earned and of that which We have brought forth for you from the earth” (al-Baqarah 2:267) (6).

Similarly, Aḥmad said in the report transmitted by al-Maymūnī: “When the People of the Covenant trade with their goods, those goods are appraised and zakāh is taken from them at double the regular rate; it is made heavier upon them in accordance with the statement of ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—‘Double it against them’” (7).

Some scholars have, on that basis, extended the same ruling to agricultural produce (8)(9).