How is the zakah of palm trees watered from a spring and a well calculated, and is it permissible to pay their zakah in cash if the state requests it?
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The questioner : I have a group of palm trees that we water from a spring and a well. The total number of palm trees is approximately one thousand and two hundred. We pay the zakah from the date harvest by giving five bags for every one hundred bags, with each bag weighing approximately sixty kilograms. Then, the competent authority sends us representatives to assess the zakah and then collect it in cash. Does the zakah we pay in bags from the harvest suffice, or does the cash requested by the state suffice, making it unnecessary to pay the zakah in dates from the harvest?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. It is obligatory for a person to pay zakah from grains and fruits that are subject to it: half of one-tenth if it is watered with effort, such as that watered by pumps and waterwheels and the like, and the full one-tenth if it is watered without effort, such as that watered by springs and the like. Accordingly, if the orchard is watered by springs, the obligation is ten bags for every one hundred bags, not five. If it is of the type watered with effort by pumps and waterwheels, the obligation is half of one-tenth, which is five bags for every one hundred bags. If the orchard is varied, with some parts better than others, some scholars say that it is obligatory to pay the zakah of each type separately, while other scholars say that it is permissible to pay from the middle value according to the value of all the types. If a person pays dirhams for the dates where the zakah collector sees fit, there is no harm. If the one who collects the zakah sees that he should take dirhams for the zakah, there is no harm on him in that. In fact, this may be more beneficial for the poor, as they can obtain with the dirhams whatever they wish of dates, wheat, clothes, or other things, unlike if they were given dates. If the government, may Allah guide it, sends someone to you to take the zakah in dirhams, you are not required to pay it out of the dates or bags of wheat. Rather, you pay it to the government as they request from you, and your obligation is thereby discharged.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. It is obligatory for a person to pay zakah from grains and fruits that are subject to it: half of one-tenth if it is watered with effort, such as that watered by pumps and waterwheels and the like, and the full one-tenth if it is watered without effort, such as that watered by springs and the like. Accordingly, if the orchard is watered by springs, the obligation is ten bags for every one hundred bags, not five. If it is of the type watered with effort by pumps and waterwheels, the obligation is half of one-tenth, which is five bags for every one hundred bags. If the orchard is varied, with some parts better than others, some scholars say that it is obligatory to pay the zakah of each type separately, while other scholars say that it is permissible to pay from the middle value according to the value of all the types. If a person pays dirhams for the dates where the zakah collector sees fit, there is no harm. If the one who collects the zakah sees that he should take dirhams for the zakah, there is no harm on him in that. In fact, this may be more beneficial for the poor, as they can obtain with the dirhams whatever they wish of dates, wheat, clothes, or other things, unlike if they were given dates. If the government, may Allah guide it, sends someone to you to take the zakah in dirhams, you are not required to pay it out of the dates or bags of wheat. Rather, you pay it to the government as they request from you, and your obligation is thereby discharged.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.