this subject of any substance (1).” Ibn al-Mundhir said (2): “There is neither an established hadith from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, nor a consensus requiring zakat on honey. Thus, no zakat is due on it.” Al-Shāfi‘ī said (3): “The report that a tithe is due on honey is weak, and the report that no tithe should be collected from it is also weak, except for what is reported from ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz (4).”
These scholars said: “All the hadiths requiring its payment have defects.
As for the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar (5), it is transmitted by Sadaqa ibn ‘Abd Allāh from (6) Mūsā ibn Yasār, from Nāfi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar. Imām Ahmad, Yahyā ibn Ma‘īn and others considered Sadaqa weak (7). Al-Bukhārī said (8): ‘It is a disconnected report from Nāfi‘, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.’ It was also stated by
(1) B reads: “kathīr (much).” The word is absent from ‘Ayn.
(2) In al-Ishrāf (3/34).
(3) Al-Shāfi‘ī stated this in his earlier teachings, as quoted by al-Bayhaqī in Ma‘rifat al-sunan (6/120) and al-Sunan al-kubrā (4/127). Al-Ma‘rifah reads: “nor from ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz.” This is a textual corruption.
(4) The report from him was transmitted by Mālik (753), ‘Abd al-Razzāq (6965–6967), and Ibn Abī Shaybah (10151, 10152). Al-Bukhārī referred to it in the chapter heading preceding hadith 1483: “The tithe on crops watered by rain or running water; ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz held that nothing was due on honey.”
(5) Reported by al-Tirmidhī (629), al-Tabarānī in al-Awsat (4375), and al-Bayhaqī (4/126). Al-Tirmidhī said: “Its chain of transmission is open to criticism,” referring to Sadaqa ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Samīn al-Dimashqī, a weak transmitter described as munkar al-hadīth (a transmitter of objectionable hadith).
(6) The printed edition reads “bin (son of),” a textual corruption.
(7) Al-‘Ilal, transmitted by ‘Abd Allāh (1313); Tārīkh Ibn Ma‘īn, transmitted by al-Dūrī (4/417); and Mīzān al-i‘tidāl (2/310).
(8) As recorded in al-‘Ilal al-kabīr (p. 107).