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THE SYSTEM OF TRIBUTE

Of the territories annexed by the Muslims, certain were those that were acquired through warfare and some others were annexed peacefully. In the areas annexed through warfare, the uncultivable barren land consisting of mountainous and marshlands were termed as anfal or the land that belong to Allah and the Prophet (a.s). The Holy Qur’an says:

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنْ الْأَنْفَالِ قُلْ الْأَنْفَالُ لِلَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ.

“They ask you about the windfalls. Say: The windfalls are for Allah and the Messenger. (8/1)”

After the Prophet (a.s), the Vicegerent and Imams (a.s) have the authority to utilize the minerals and other resources from this land for the welfare of the people. Without the permission of the wali al-amr of the time, or his deputy, none has the authority to exploit such lands in any manner. The cultivated lands that were acquired through warfare used to be distributed amongst the Muslims so that they took crops on them and boosted the prosperity of the people. Those areas where the people, of their own free consent, embraced Islam, their ownership of the lands were not disturbed and they continued to use them as in the past. The examples of such areas are al-Madinah, Bahrain and a major part of Yemen. They were only required to pay the zakat on the returns they derived from the cultivation of those lands. If the people in such places wished not to embrace Islam, they will be bound by the terms of truce with them. If in the terms of truce it was decided that they would continue to have the use and ownership of the land, they will not be evicted from them. However, they will be treated as Dhimmis and were liable to pay the jizyah. If the truce was with the condition that they would forego the ownership of the lands, then such lands were to be distributed amongst the Muslims. Such lands were called the lands of tribute. They are called the lands of tribute because they have been received as tribute from the people who had surrendered in terms of the truce with them. From the persons who cultivate such lands, in addition to the zakat, they have to pay land revenue which is either in kind called in cash that is termed khiraj. The quantity of khiraj is fixed by the wali al-amr at his discretion.

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During his time, Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) fixed the limits of the khiraj and determined the norms for the collection of this revenue. But he had more concern for land use than collection of the tributes to ensure that there was prosperity among the people. Therefore, he instructed Malik al-Ashtar, “More than collection of the tribute, concentrate on the promotion of the use of land for cultivation because tribute is generated when the land is in use!” One, who wants to take tribute without putting the land to use, becomes the cause of destruction of the state and the people. Such regimes do not last for long.” Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) was not in favor of using coercion in the collection of the tribute and asked his representatives to have a soft attitude in the matter of collecting the land revenue. Therefore, when he retained a person from Banū-Thaqif to collect the tribute from a certain area, he told him:

“Beware! For the sake of the dirhams of tribute, do not trouble Muslims, Jews and Christians. Do not confiscate and sell farm animals to collect the tribute from the tillers. We have been commanded only to take from them what is in excess of their needs.”[1]

Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) had fixed a very nominal rate for the collection of the tribute from the farmers. Buladhari has written in Futūh al-Buldan that Mus`ab Ibn Yazid said that his father was appointed for the collection of the tribute for the lands irrigated with the waters of Euphrates. He said that the rate of tribute for wheat, if the crop was good, was 1.5 dirham or three seers of the produce per jurayb (land measuring approximately 120 square feet), if the crop was average the tribute was one dirham and for a poor crop two thirds of a dirham. For the barley crop, the tariff was half of this. For gardens, like dates and other fruits, the tribute was ten dirhams per jurayb. The grape vines that reached the fourth year after planting, the tribute were ten dirhams per jurayb. For vegetable, linseed, cotton and miscellaneous crops no tribute was collected.