They added: “Collecting it requires less effort than harvesting crops and fruits.”

Abū Hanīfa then stated that a tenth is due on honey only when it is collected from land subject to the tithe. If it is collected from land subject to kharāj (land tax), nothing is due on it according to him, because the owner of such land already owes kharāj on account of its fruits and crops; no further payment is therefore due on the same account. By contrast, the owner of tithe land owes no payment for the land itself, so payment is due on what it produces.

Imam Ahmad made no distinction between the two types of land in this respect. He held that zakat is due on honey collected from one’s own land or from unowned wasteland, whether the land is subject to the tithe or (1) to kharāj.

Those who considered zakat obligatory on honey then differed over whether it has a minimum threshold. They held two views: the first, that zakat is due on any quantity, small or large, was the position of Abū Hanīfa. The second was that it has a specified minimum threshold.

They then differed over the amount of that threshold. Abū Yūsuf said it was ten ratls (units of weight). Muhammad (2) said it was five faraqs (measures of volume), each faraq being equivalent to thirty-six Iraqi ratls. Ahmad said its threshold was ten faraqs.

Ahmad’s followers then differed over the size of a faraq, holding three views: sixty ratls, thirty-six ratls, or sixteen ratls. The last is the apparent meaning of Ahmad’s words. And Allah knows best.

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Whenever a man brought him zakat, he would pray for him. At times he would say: “O Allah, bless him and