from each fund he administers, in proportion to the size of that fund. Auditing accounts and keeping accurate records of receipts and expenditure are duties with an established basis in the words of the Most High:

“and those employed to administer it”

And in an authentic hadith:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, appointed a man to collect zakat, and when he returned, he examined his accounts.”

This establishes a basis for auditing officials working in different places. The central auditor acts as the ruler’s deputy in examining their accounts. Where funds are numerous and their officials must be audited, a central office is indispensable. Thus, when revenues increased during the time of the Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, he established administrative offices: the land-tax office, which was the office for personnel employed on stipends, and placed ʿUthmān ibn Hunayf in charge of it; and the expenditure office, which handled disbursements to fighting men and their descendants and resembled the office of al-habs and al-thubūtāt and similar offices in our own time. He placed Zayd ibn Thābit in charge of it.

Likewise, those in authority—the ruler, the judge, and others like them—must administer endowed funds according to valid conditions consistent with the Book of Allah, and appoint officials for work to which the endowment administrator has appointed none. In the terminology of Islamic law, an official includes the person called an administrator, as well as others charged with collecting money from those who owe it and disbursing and delivering it to those entitled to it, in accordance with His words:

“Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due.”

The appointment of a central auditor to oversee officials working in different places depends on need and benefit. It may be obligatory if the proper collection and disbursement of funds cannot be achieved without it, for that without which