ibn Ishāq:

Mālik held that one mudd sufficed in Medina as expiation for an oath. Mālik said: “As for other lands, their diet differs from ours, so I consider that they should offer expiation according to the average standard of their own diet.” This is based on Allah Most High’s words:

“From the average of what you feed your own families, or to clothe them.”

This is also the position of Dāwūd and his followers without qualification. It is the view transmitted from most of the Companions and Successors. Thus, they would describe the average as bread with milk, bread with clarified butter, or bread with dates, and the higher standard as bread with meat.

Elsewhere, we have presented the reports from them at length and explained that this is the correct view, supported by the Quran, the Sunnah, and sound reasoning. It also follows by analogy from Ahmad’s school and its principles. His underlying principle is that whatever the Lawgiver has not quantified is referred to customary practice. The Lawgiver has not quantified this, so it should be referred to customary practice, particularly in light of His words, Most High:

“From the average of what you feed your own families.”

Ahmad does not prescribe fixed amounts of food for a wife, a child, or a slave. Nor, according to the apparent position of his school, does he prescribe a fixed wage for a worker hired in return for his food and clothing. He likewise sets no fixed amount for the hospitality he regards as obligatory, with no differing position reported on this point. Nor, according to the apparent position of his school, does he set a fixed amount for the hospitality stipulated as due to Muslims from non-Muslims under Muslim protection. This is so even though that obligation arises from a stipulation; how, then, would he prescribe a fixed amount of food for an obligation imposed by the Sharia?

Indeed, according to the more evident of the two positions transmitted from him, he does not prescribe a fixed amount for the jizyah (poll tax), nor does he do so for the land tax. More generally, he does not prescribe fixed amounts for obligatory food provisions, whether the obligation arises from the Sharia or from a stipulation, nor for other obligatory provisions. It is therefore all the more appropriate that no fixed amount be prescribed for the food provided as expiation.