—for stripping the fruit, harvesting it, and then measuring it with the legally prescribed measure would impose great hardship, so estimation through khars was deemed sufficient.

Thus, God-fearingness and the legal obligations He has laid down are commensurate with a person’s ability and capacity.

The juristic maxim states that whenever attaining certainty is impossible or excessively difficult, acting on predominant conjecture is enough, and the Sharia offers many examples of this principle.

3 – Hadith no. 509 shows that the khars assessor of fruit and grain, as well as the zakat collector, should not exact the entire amount of zakat. Rather, he is to leave one-third or one-quarter of it with the owners so that they may distribute it to their relatives, neighbors, and others whose hearts are attached to that produce. The assessor’s choice between leaving a third or a quarter is left to his discretion and ijtihad in securing the public interest, taking into consideration the owner’s generosity—or lack thereof—and the number and disposition of those who look to him.

4 – Shaykh al-Islam said: This hadith—the report of Sahl—conforms to the principles and noble aims of the Sharia and accords with the Prophet’s statement, “No zakat is due on vegetables” (reported by al-Tirmidhi, 638). Customarily, once the crop has fully ripened, the owner and his family must eat from it, and he will feed others from that portion which is not stored and will not last, just like vegetables that are not kept in storage. This prevailing custom is practically unavoidable: people need to eat fresh fruit, and it is inevitable that relatives, neighbors, and those overseeing the orchard will share in that fresh produce.

5 – His words, “Leave one-third or one-quarter,” illustrate the consideration of circumstances: what is required at one time may not be required at another, and what is obligatory for one person may not be obligatory for someone else. Such rulings pivot on weighing interests and prevailing conditions.

6 – Hadith no. 507 has already restricted the items from which zakat is taken to four: barley,