What is tithing?

 Meaning of tithing

Tithing is ushur in arabic "customs taxes" today.

It is a commercial tax in the Arab Islamic state to which the dhimmis and the trustees are subjected if they pass through the homes of Muslims, and the tithe is not taken from the Muslim when Abu Dawud narrated on the authority of Harb bin Ubayd Allah al -Thaqafi on the authority of his grandfather - the father of his mother. On the authority of his father that the Messenger of God, may God's prayers and peace be upon him, said: “Muslims do not have a tithe, but the tithing is on the Jews and Christians.”The Commander of the Faithful, Omar bin Al-Khattab, is considered the first to impose tithing on the people of the dhimmi, since this tax was not in the era of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant peace, nor In the era of Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, but it was stated that it was forbidden to take it because tithe was known in the Jahiliyyah, and that is why the Messenger, may God's prayers and peace be upon him, forbade it when he said: "No one who has a mix will enter Heaven."

The principle that prompted the Commander of the Faithful to impose this tax is what Abu Yusuf narrated that the people of Manbij - a people of the people of war - wrote to Omar bin Al-Khattab: (Let us enter your land as a trade and treat us together). He said: Umar consulted the companions of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, about that, and they referred to him, so they were the first of ten people of war.

And in another narration, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari wrote to Umar ibn al-Khattab that Muslim merchants from our side would come to the land of war and take a tenth from them. With less than two hundred anything, if it is two hundred, then it is five dirhams, and what is more, then in its calculation. As for the owner, the quorum is not required for this tax to be required.

How to estimate tithing 

It refers to the basis on which the price of this tax is determined, and it is clear from the previous hadiths that it is based on reciprocity as indicated by the hadith of Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari, or in the interest of Muslims. At the very least, it was reported that Umar used to take half a tenth of the oil and wheat from the Nabat in order to increase the load to Medina and take from the ten cotton, because the need for it was not severe and it was not a necessity, and this applies to the types of trade that are subject to what is in the interest of Muslims, so it is not allowed to enter or exit what His entry or exit is harmful to Muslims, because this tax is governed by two principles:

• 1) Achieve the interest of society. 

• 2) Reciprocity. 

If there are treaties governing foreign trade between Muslims and others, then these treaties are observed, and foreign traders are treated in the same way they treat Muslim merchants, in application of the principle of reciprocity, as long as it does not contradict the interest of the community. In treaties that achieve the interest of society.

 Regulating the tithe tax 

 

It is clear from what has been mentioned that Al-Faruq has set the tithe tax at half a tenth for the dhimmi and one tenth for the trustee, but he did not specify the minimum amount of money that is subject to this tax and the period for which it is taken. As for the issue of the minimum limit, it has been clarified and the opinions of the jurists are clarified. It remains to determine the period for which this tax is taken on the authority of Ziyad bin Hudayr that his father used to take from my Christian twice every year. Twice Sunnah, Omar said, not that for him, but for him every year once.Then he came to him and said: I am the Christian sheikh, so Omar said, and I, the Hanif Sheikh, have written to you before.

But this ruling relates to money if the merchant passes it twice to the tenth, but if this money changes, then the tenth has the right to impose the tax on him again, and Abu Ubaid referred to that and said: If the second money was the one that went through it exactly the first time, he did not take From him in that year, nor from whoever won it more than once, because the right that was obligated he spent it does not spend one right from one money twice, and if he passed by money, he was taken from him again.

And if he renewed that repeatedly every year if he had returned to his country, since it is not better than a Muslim. Do you not see that if he passed by money that his zakat was not paid, he would take alms from him. Who is this money too? Because the first charity is not a judge for the other money, then the Sunnah is not a condition for taking this tax unless it is the same money, but if it is other money, then the tax is imposed on it even if the same trader passes it repeatedly.