He explicitly stated in more than one place that zakat is due on the produce of date palms and grapevines. He explicitly stated that it is due on almonds, but excluded walnuts according to a report from Abu Ṭālib. He excluded all other fruits. He also made it obligatory on olives, according to reports from al-Marwazī and Ṣāliḥ.

Zakat on such produce becomes obligatory subject to two conditions. The first is that ripeness has begun and the produce has become fit to eat. Whoever harvests it before the onset of ripeness is not liable for zakat if he does so out of need. If he does so to evade zakat, however, it is not waived.

The second condition is that it reach five awsuq. No zakat is due on less than five awsuq. A wasq is sixty ṣāʿs, and a ṣāʿ is five and one-third Iraqi ratls.

It is permissible to estimate produce while it is still on the trees in order to determine the amount of zakat, as a precaution to safeguard the entitlement of the zakat beneficiaries. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed agents to estimate produce. He said to them, “Be lenient in your estimates, for the produce includes bequests, gifts made during the owner’s lifetime, what passersby eat, and what is affected by calamities.”

A bequest is what the owners designate for others after their death. An ʿariyya is what is given away as a gift during one’s lifetime. Al-wāṭiʾa is what passersby eat from the produce; it is called wāṭiʾa because they tread upon the ground. Al-nāʾiba is whatever calamity befalls the produce.

As for the produce of Basra, its ruling regarding the estimation of date palms and grapevines is the same as that of produce elsewhere. The date palms and grapevines may not be estimated until ripeness has begun. They are estimated as unripe dates and grapes according to two reports. According to one, their condition as fresh dates and grapes is taken into consideration. According to the other, consideration is given to what they will become—dates and raisins.

The owners are then given a choice, provided they are trustworthy, between guaranteeing the produce at the amount determined by the estimate, so that they may dispose of it while guaranteeing the amount of zakat due on it, and leaving it in their possession as a trust. In the latter case, they are prevented from disposing of it until it reaches full maturity, after which its zakat is taken according to whatever amount it has reached.