they are fixed assessments that they pay.” He also said, “The kharaj of the Sawad, according to al-Ḥakam’s report from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, is a qafīz and a dirham.”

Abū Bakr al-Khallāl said: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh says: The imam is to exercise judgment in this matter, increasing or decreasing the assessment according to what they can bear.” More than one person has related this as his view. What ʿAbbās al-Khallāl transmitted from Abū Bakr was an earlier position of Abū ʿAbd Allāh.

The reports from ʿUmar regarding the amount of kharaj differ. Abū ʿUbayd narrated through his chain of transmission from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, who said: “I witnessed ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb when Ibn Ḥunayf came to him and began speaking with him. We heard him say: ‘By Allah, if you impose one dirham and one qafīz of grain on every jريب of land, would that not overburden them and exhaust them?’”

He also narrated through his chain of transmission from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Yaqfī, who said: “ʿUmar imposed upon the people of the Sawad, for every jريب—whether cultivated or uncultivated—one dirham and one qafīz, and upon a jريب of alfalfa five dirhams.”

It was also narrated through his chain of transmission from al-Shaʿbī that “ʿUmar sent Ibn Ḥunayf to the Sawad, and he assessed the kharaj, imposing two dirhams on a jريب of barley, four dirhams on a jريب of wheat, six dirhams on a jريب of reeds, eight dirhams on a jريب of date palms, and ten dirhams on a jريب of vines.”

Abū Zayd ʿUmar ibn Shabba al-Numayrī likewise narrated through his chain of transmission from ʿAmr ibn Maymūn that “he imposed upon every jريب”—and he related the report until he said—“As for date palms: one dirham for a fārisiyya palm, and one dirham for two daqal palms.”

Another wording, transmitted from ʿUthmān ibn Ḥunayf when ʿUmar sent him, states: “He levied the tax on alfalfa”—and he related the report until he said—“and he did not count the date palms.”

Of these reports, Aḥmad adopted the report of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, as related by ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd al-Luḥayānī and Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad. He said: “The strongest and soundest hadith concerning the land of the Sawad is the report of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn regarding the dirham and the qafīz.”

This is corroborated by the report of Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “When Iraq withholds its dirham and qafīz, Syria withholds its dinar and mudd, Egypt withholds its dinar and irdabb, and you return as you began…” This confirms that the dirham and qafīz were levied together.