than others. The holder of the grant who does this good removes as much injustice from the Muslims as he can and wards off the evildoer’s harm by collecting part of what he demands from them. As regards what he cannot abolish, he is doing good to the Muslims, not wronging them. He is rewarded and incurs no sin for what he collects under the circumstances described. He is not liable to repay what he has collected, nor does he incur any sin in this world or the Hereafter, provided that he strives for justice and beneficence to the best of his ability.

This is comparable to an orphan’s guardian, the administrator of a charitable endowment, the managing partner in a profit-sharing investment, a business partner, or anyone else who manages another’s affairs through guardianship or agency. If he cannot secure their interests without paying some of their wealth to a powerful oppressor, he is doing good by doing so, not wrong. Examples include what such people pay to collectors of oppressive tolls and others along the roads, in connection with the ashwāl and the assets entrusted to them, as well as the prescribed levies they pay on real estate and on goods bought and sold. Anyone managing affairs for himself or another in these times, in these lands and others like them, must inevitably pay these levies. If this meant that no one could lawfully manage another’s affairs, people would suffer ruin and their interests would be lost.

If people heeded someone who forbids this in order to prevent a little injustice, the injustice and harm they suffered would multiply. His case is like that of people travelling along a road who are confronted by highway robbers: unless they appease them with some of their wealth, the robbers will seize all their wealth and kill them.

Thus, whoever says to that caravan:

“It is not lawful for you to give these men any of the wealth