the public treasury, that is permissible. Neither all nor even most of the funds held by the Islamic fiscal administration are unlawful, so as to warrant such a judgment. Rather, they include zakah funds, state revenues, and funds devoted to the public welfare in amounts known only to Allah. They also include funds that are unlawful or doubtful. If he knows that what he has been given comes from unlawful funds, he may not accept it; but if he does not know its provenance, accepting it is not forbidden to him. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

Regarding a man whom the ruler has awarded a revenue grant that includes some illicit levies: may he use these for his own subsistence, assign them to his soldiers, or spend them on fodder for his horses and pay for his retainers?

He answered:

Praise be to Allah. Funds collected from the various revenue sources are not free of doubt, but they are not all wholly unlawful. Some are unlawful, while others are collected rightfully, and some are less objectionable than others. Thus, levies on al-Sāhil and its revenue grants are less objectionable than those imposed on sales of real estate and other such commodities, or on the yarn market and similar markets. There is no uncertainty about these latter levies: they constitute manifest injustice.

The same applies to the revenue-farming arrangement known as damān al-ifrāj, since its proceeds may be collected either from forbidden sexual acts or from lawful marriages. In the latter case, this is injustice; in the former, it is assistance in the immoral practices that