“For crops watered by the sky and by springs, a full tenth is due,” related by al-Bukhari.
Zakat is likewise required on fruits such as dates and raisins and anything similar that is measured by volume and can be stored. It is not due unless the produce reaches the minimum threshold (nisab), in keeping with the hadith of Abu Saʿid al-Khudri—may Allah be pleased with him—who reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “No charity is due on less than five wasqs,” a report recorded by all the major compilers. One wasq equals sixty saʿs, each saʿ being the Prophetic measure of four double-handfuls taken by a man of average build.
For zakat on grains and fruit, it is also a condition that the nisab be in the owner’s possession at the moment the zakat becomes due—namely, when the fruit first shows signs of ripeness and when the grain hardens.
Thus two conditions govern the obligation of zakat on grains and fruit:
- The produce must reach the nisab, as explained above.
- The nisab must be owned at the time the zakat becomes due.
If the nisab comes into a person’s possession only after that point—because he bought it, received it as wages for harvesting, or collected it from scattered ears—no zakat is owed on it.
The amount that must be paid as zakat on grains and fruit varies according to the means of irrigation: