As for broken dirhams and dinars, they need not be accepted for the land tax, because their composition is uncertain and they may have been adulterated. For this reason, their value is lower than that of sound, intact minted coins.

Aḥmad said, in the narration of Ibn Manṣūr—when Sufyān’s statement was mentioned to him, “If one man testifies that another owes one thousand dirhams or one hundred dinars, he is entitled to the dirhams and dinars current in that land”—“Good.” Thus, he took the currency of the locality into consideration without specifying that the coins be sound.

Aḥmad disapproved of breaking coins categorically, whether there was a need to do so or not. In the narration of Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, when he was asked about breaking dirhams, he said, “In my view, this is a form of spreading corruption in the land.”

In the narration of al-Marwazī, when he was asked about breaking defective dirhams, he strongly disliked it. Likewise, in the narration of Ḥarb, when he was asked about breaking dirhams, he strongly disliked it.

In the narration of Abū Dāwūd, he was asked about a man who saw a beggar possessing a sound dirham and wanted to give him a piece of it: “May he break it off?” He replied, “No. Breaking and cutting dirhams is disliked.” He was also asked about breaking already-broken dirhams. He disliked this and said, “That only breaks them further.”

In the narration of Bakr ibn Muḥammad, he was asked about a man who cuts dirhams and dinars to make jewelry from them. He replied, “Do not do that. This causes harm to people. Instead, he should purchase broken bullion with silver.”