their own services, then according to the majority they must pay the tithe, while according to the other view it is due from the one who hired them.

Anyone who says that the tithe Allah has prescribed for those entitled to zakat is waived has contradicted scholarly consensus. Moreover, these soldiers are not like hired workers. Rather, they are Allah’s soldiers, fighting His servants in His cause. They receive these stipends from the public treasury to help them wage jihad. What they receive does not belong to the ruler; it is Allah’s wealth, which the ruler distributes among those entitled to it. Whoever regards them as hired workers regards their jihad as being for someone other than Allah.

It is related in a hadith:

“Those of my community who go forth to fight and accept what they are given are like the mother of Moses, who nurses her son and receives her wages.”

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If the owner of crops and fruit owes a debt, does this waive the obligation of zakat? There are three opinions on this.

One view is that it is not waived under any circumstances. This is the position of Mālik, al-Awzā'ī and al-Shāfi'ī, and one position reported from Ahmad.

Another view is that debt waives it. This is the position of 'Atā', al-Hasan and Sulaymān ibn Yasār