If someone is unable to pay his kharaj, he is granted respite until he becomes financially able, but the kharaj is not waived on account of his insolvency. If, while solvent, he delays payment of the kharaj, he is imprisoned—unless he is found to possess property, in which case it is sold on his behalf to pay his kharaj, as with other debts. If he owns nothing besides kharaj land, then, if the sultan holds that it may lawfully be sold, a portion of it is sold sufficient to cover his kharaj. If he does not hold that its sale is permissible, it is leased out on his behalf, and the kharaj is collected from its lessee. If the rent exceeds the kharaj, he is entitled to the surplus; if it falls short, he is liable for the shortfall.

If the landowner is unable to cultivate his land, he is told: “Either lease it out or relinquish it, so that it may be given to someone who will cultivate it; do not leave it in a state of ruin.” Even if he pays its kharaj to prevent it from becoming wasteland through neglect, this position was indicated by Aḥmad in the report of Ḥanbal. He said: “Whoever embraces Islam while possessing something, it belongs to him. The kharaj of the land is taken from him. If he abandons his land and does not cultivate it, that is for the imam to decide: he gives it to someone who will cultivate it, so that it does not fall into ruin and become fayʾ for the Muslims.”

Thus, he prohibited abandoning the cultivation of kharaj land in a state of ruin. In the report of Ḥarb, he said: “Regarding a man who revives dead land, digs a well in it, channels water to it from another place, or encloses it with a wall, and then abandons it—it remains his.” He was asked: “Is there a time limit after he abandons it?” He replied: “No.”

Likewise, in the report of Abū al-Ṣaqr, he said: “If someone revives dead land and cultivates it, then abandons it until it returns to ruin, it remains his, and no one else may take it from him. He is entitled to retain it only because, by reviving it, it became his property