His statement, “Try your utmost not to give them anything,” is understood as referring to mawāt (unclaimed wasteland), while his statement, “But if you make an agreement with them, do not betray them,” is understood according to the view of those who say that there is no mawāt in the Sawād. I therefore prefer to avoid disagreement.
Reports from him differ as to whether there is wasteland in the Sawād that may be acquired through reclamation. In a report transmitted by al-Khallāl from al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā—who asked him about land in the Sawād that someone had reclaimed, and whether it would belong to the one who reclaimed it—he replied: “The hillocks and sandy tracts between you and al-Anbār, for example, belong to whoever reclaims them.” In a report transmitted by his son ʿAbd Allāh, who asked him, “Is there any wasteland in the Sawād?” he replied: “I do not know of there being any wasteland there.”
As for an increase brought about by Allah Most High—for example, a spring whose source bursts forth and whose water spreads widely, or land cut out by a flood until it lies lower and becomes naturally irrigated after having previously been irrigated by a water-lifting device—if this is a temporary, fleeting condition whose continuance cannot be relied upon, it is not permissible to increase the kharaj of that land. If its continuance can be relied upon, the imam should consider what serves the interests of the landowners and those entitled to the fayʾ, and should implement the increase or impose a proportional share in a manner that is fair to both groups.
Kharaj is due on land whenever it is possible to cultivate it, even if it is not cultivated. This was explicitly stated in the reports transmitted by al-Athram and Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥarb. Aḥmad was asked about a man who possessed a piece of kharaj land but did not cultivate it: “Is its kharaj still due from him?” He replied: “Yes—whether it is cultivated or lying fallow.”
If the kharaj due on land left uncultivated varies according to the crops grown, then for leaving it uncultivated he is charged the kharaj of the least highly assessed crop that may be grown there, because if he had cultivated only that crop, no objection would have been made to it.
If kharaj land cannot be cultivated every year, such that it must lie fallow one year and be cultivated the next, its condition at the time kharaj was first imposed upon it should be taken into account, and what is most beneficial to the landowners and those entitled to the fayʾ should be chosen through one of three methods: either its kharaj is set at half the kharaj of land cultivated every year, and collected from both the cultivated and fallow portions; or every two jarībs of it are assessed as one jarīb, so that one is designated for cultivation and the other left fallow; or the full kharaj is imposed on the area left fallow, and half is collected from its owners when their land is cultivated.
If the kharaj on crops and fruits varies according to their varieties, and a crop is planted or a tree is planted that has not been expressly specified, its kharaj is determined by analogy with whichever of the specified categories most closely resembles it or is closest to it in benefit.
When kharaj land is planted with something that entails the ʿushr (tithe), the ʿushr due on the land does not cancel its kharaj; both dues are collected from it.