He—may Allah sanctify his soul—was also asked:

In a certain city, no sheep is slaughtered without the tax collector taking its offal, head, and feet as a levy. He then sets these out and sells them in the markets. Some people in the city, both residents and outsiders, do not refrain from buying and eating them. No heads, feet, or offal are sold in the city except under this arrangement, and no alternative is possible. In these circumstances, is buying and eating them forbidden or not?

He replied:

These come under the same ruling as the levies that rulers impose upon people. In reality, they are taken from the wealth of the sheep owners who sell their animals to butchers and others: the buyer allows for the offal that will be taken and reduces the price accordingly. The same applies to all such levies. Although they are collected from the buyer, they are actually taken from the seller’s wealth.

These levies involve interpretive justifications and doubts about their legal status. Some are outright injustice, but identifying the owners of the property and returning it to them has become impossible. It must therefore be used for the benefit of the Muslims. The authorities have the power to sell it and disburse it. Thus, someone who buys these items from them and pays them the price is not in the same position as someone purchasing wrongfully seized property