Al-Shāfi‘ī said (1): Anas ibn ‘Iyād narrated to us, from al-Hārith ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Dhubāb, from his father, from Sa‘d ibn Abī Dhubāb, who said: “I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and embraced Islam. I then said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, allow my people to retain the property they possessed when they embraced Islam.’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, granted this and appointed me over them. Abū Bakr subsequently appointed me, followed by ‘Umar.” He was counted (2) among the people of al-Sarāh. He said: “I spoke to my people about honey, telling them, ‘Zakat is due on it, for there is no good in produce on which zakat is not paid.’ They asked, ‘How much do you think it should be?’ I replied, ‘A tithe.’ So I collected a tithe from them. I then met ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb and informed him of what had happened. ‘Umar took possession of it and allocated its proceeds to the Muslims’ charitable funds.” Imām Ahmad also narrated this report; the wording given here is al-Shāfi‘ī’s.
The scholars differed concerning these hadiths and their legal implications. Al-Bukhārī said (3): “There is no authentic report concerning zakat on honey.” Al-Tirmidhī said (4): “There is no authentic report from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning