Question: What is ushr?
ANSWER
Zakat on agricultural produce is called ushr. A poor person or an indebted person has to give ushr, too. However, the case is not so with zakat on trade goods and livestock, which obligate one to give zakat if one reaches nisab after deducting one’s debts.

Hadrat Imam-i A’zam says:
When crops are obtained from the earth, whether in a large or small amount, it is fard to give its one-tenth or its equivalent in gold or silver to poor Muslims.

According to Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam-i Muhammad, to give ushr, the produce obtained from the land has to be of the kind and quality that will last one year and its amount has to be more than 1250 liters [approximately more than 1000 kg]. For example, if a poor person who has harvested 500 kg of wheat does not give ushr by following Imam-i Muhammad and Imam-i Abu Yusuf, he will not incur a sin. However, if a rich person harvests 100 kg of wheat, he has to give one-tenth of it.

A poor person who has to give ushr can receive ushr given by others. However, it is haram for a rich person to receive zakat.

If one donates one-tenth of one’s farm or garden to a poor person, one still has to give ushr on the remaining part of it every year.

There is no nisab for ushr. Ushr must be given even if one’s produce is a little. Expenditures are not deducted. However, if irrigation is made by a method that costs money or water pumps, then one-twentieth is given. Giving ushr was ordered by 141st verse of Surah al-An’am, and giving one-tenth of produce was ordered by hadith-i sharifs.

Question: My relatives cultivate my land free of charge, but they do not give ushr. Am I responsible for it?
ANSWER
No, you are not responsible for it.

Question: If we are given fruit or vegetables that we know or do not know whether ushr is paid on, is it permissible to eat them?
ANSWER
It is permissible to eat them if we do not know whether ushr is paid on them. If we know that the donor does not give ushr, you had better eat them after giving one-tenth of it to a poor person. (Se’adet-i Ebediyye)

Question: Is it permissible to give ushr on wheat, barley, or dates by weighing them by kilogram?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible.

Question: Expenditures we made on olives are more than the produce. Do we have to give ushr?
ANSWER
It is necessary to give ushr if you harvest them.

Question: If costs spent are much more than produce, does one still have to give ushr?
ANSWER
It is fard to give ushr regardless of the quantity of the costs spent or produce harvested.

Question: Is it necessary to give ushr on roses?
ANSWER
Zakat must be given on them if they are grown for commercial purpose.

Question: Is it permissible to give ushr on wheat and barley from barley only?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible.

Question: Is it permissible to pay out ushr on wheat from the wheat of previous years?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible. It is permissible to pay it out from flour as well.

Question: Is it permissible to give ushr on olives as olive oil?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible.

Question: If the produce of a piece of land is shared equally by a lessor and a lessee, who must give ushr?
ANSWER
They must give it fifty fifty.

Question: Is ushr given for vegetables grown for household needs?
ANSWE
No, it is not given.

Question: We jointly cultivate a piece of land, and I give ushr for half of the produce I receive. Will I be sinful if my partner does not give ushr for his share?
ANSWER
You must make every effort to convince your partner to give ushr on the total produce. If he does not agree, you must give ushr on half. You must not become partners with a person who does not agree on giving ushr.

Question: Is it fard for a farmer to give zakat by wheat? Can he not give it by money?
ANSWER
The zakat on wheat is termed ushr. Ushr on wheat is given either from wheat or its equivalent in gold may be given.

Question: A man does not give ushr on his crops. His son, with a view to save his father from sinning, says to his father, “Give ushr, and I will give you money as much as its equivalent.” What is the ruling on this?
ANSWER
In this case, his father is considered to have paid ushr.

Question: Is ushr given on wood, grass, or straw?
ANSWER
No, it is not given.

Question: Is ushr given on poppy seeds and their pods?
ANSWER
Ushr is given on parts that are worth money.

Question: If one consumes vegetables before giving ushr, is it permissible to give ushr on them by calculating what was consumed by way of an educated guess?
ANSWER
An educated guess (zann-i ghalib) based on an overwhelming opinion is valid.

Question: If one’s debts exceed the ushr of one's produce, does one have to give ushr before all else?
ANSWER
Yes, one does.

Question: If one permits one’s partner to cultivate a piece of land, then should the owner give the ushr of produce?
ANSWER
No, it is not the owner who must give ushr.

Question: Can a poor farmer give or receive ushr?
ANSWER
Yes, he can.

Question: Can a poor farmer who has harvested six wasqs of produce receive ushr?
ANSWER
One who does not own nisab can receive ushr and zakat.

Question: If one sells the wheat on which one paid ushr, does one have to give zakat on the money one received?
ANSWER
Ushr is no longer given on it if it is given once. However, if it is sold and turned into cash, that money must be included in nisab when zakat due date comes, and zakat must be given on it.

Question: Instead of giving ushr for lettuce every time we harvest, can we estimate the total produce and give ushr based on this? For example, can we estimate that we have harvested 100 kg of lettuce in total and give 10 kg as ushr?
ANSWER
Yes, you can.

Question: Does a lessee of a piece of land have to give ushr on produce alone?
ANSWER
It is written in fiqh books: “If one rents out one's land to someone, according to Imam-i A’zam, it is the owner who must give ushr on produce. This fatwa is valid at places where rental is high. According to Imam-i Abu Yusuf and Imam-i Muhammad, it is the owner who must give ushr. This fatwa is valid at places where rental is low.”

For example, if your rental is 20 Turkish liras and harvested equaling 60 Turkish liras after deducting expenditures, it is you (lessee) who must give ushr. If you harvest crops of 30 Turkish liras after deducting expenditures, it is the lessor who must give zakat because the lessor receives more than half the profit.
If costs are 10 Turkish liras and you harvest crops of 50 Turkish liras, it means you have earned 40 Turkish liras. As you give 20 Turkish liras to the lessor as rental, the ushr of half of the crops must be given by the lessee, and the ushr of half of them must be given by the lessor.

Rental and expenditures are not deducted as for ushr. However, while calculating who will give ushr, the lessee or lessor, expenditures are taken into account.

Question: Is it sinful to keep for a few years crops on which ushr was given? Is it necessary to pay zakat on the money if they are sold?
ANSWER
It is not sinful to keep crops even for several years if ushr is given. It is stated in a hadith-i sharif:

(Wealth on which zakat has been paid is not considered kanz.) [Abu Dawud, Tabarani, Hakim, Hatib, Munawi]

Kanz means wealth that has been accumulated, hoarded, or stocked.

Hadrat Ibn Abidin says:
Zakat is given on trade goods. Produce harvested from land on which ushr is due, property inherited or something that is transferred to one’s ownership when accepted, e.g. a gift, is not considered trade goods even if one intends to do trade with it because intention to do trade pertains to buying and selling. For example, if one keeps, with the intention of selling, crops on which one paid ushr or any kind of property one inherited, it is not necessary to pay zakat on them even if they exceed nisab and a complete lunar year passes over them. (Radd-ul-Mukhtar)

If one sells or rents them out, what one receives is considered trade goods, and included in nisab when zakat due date comes. Gold or silver goods and paper money is zakatable assets no matter by what means one obtains it.

Question: Does a poor person who is in need of zakat have to give ushr on a little produce from his farm or garden? For example, does he have to give ushr on 20 kg of tomatoes, 30 kg of eggplants, 50 kg of apples, or 500 kg of wheat?
ANSWER
According to Hadrat Imam-i A’zam, whether in a large or small amount, when any kind of vegetable or fruit is obtained from the earth it is fard to give its one-tenth or its equivalent in gold to poor Muslims. When the produce is obtained from land which is irrigated by animal power, a waterwheel or machinery, one-twentieth of it is given. Whether one-tenth or one-twentieth, it should be given before deducting what is spent on animals, seeds, tools, fertilizer chemicals and workers. Ushr is not given for produce which is less than one sa. One sa equals a little more than four liters.

According to Imam-i-Yusuf and Imam-i-Muhammad, to give ushr, the produce obtained from the land has to be of the kind and quality that will last one year [under normal conditions], and its amount has to be more than five wasqs. The wasq is a unit of volume that corresponds to 250 liters. Five wasqs corresponds to 1250 liters. Accordingly, the two imams state that the nisab of ushr is 1250 liters. But the fatwa has been given ac*9cording to the ijtihad of Imam-i A’zam.

Though the fatwa is in accordance with the ijtihad of Imam-i A’zam, it is not sinful if a poor person who is in need of zakat does not give ushr on fruit and vegetables that do not last one year and wheat, barley or lentil less than 1250 liters by following the ijtihad of the two imams.

In the madhhabs of Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali, it is not necessary to give ushr on vegetables even for a large amount. In the Hanbali Madhhab, ushr is not due on walnuts. In the madhhabs of Maliki and Shafi’i, ushr is not due on almonds, sesame, peanuts, flaxseeds, cumin, and anise. In the Hanbali Madhhab, no ushr is due on olives. In the Shafi’i and Maliki madhhabs, there are two different qawls regarding ushr on olives. According to one qawl, ushr is not due on them while the other says ushr is necessary. In the madhhabs of Maliki and Shafi’i, no ushr is due on honey. According to the madhhabs of Shafi’i, Hanbali, and Maliki, it is permissible to give ushr on fruit by guessing. In the Hanafi  Madhhab, it is not permissible; it is necessary to weigh or measure. One can make use of the ruling of another madhhab, if there is necessity or extreme necessity.

Question: It is written in Se’adet-i Ebediyye, “Ushr is not given on fruit and vegetables grown in the garden of one’s home, no matter how much they are.” In my homeland, nearly everyone’s home is surrounded by a garden. Then is ushr not due on nuts, fruit, and vegetables grown in a very big garden?
ANSWER
Ushr must be given. If one’s house was built in a field or a garden, then it is necessary to give ushr on produce. However, it is not necessary to give ushr on fruit and vegetables grown in the garden next to the house because they are grown for the needs of one’s family. It is not necessary to give ushr on them even if one sells some of them. However, if one grows agricultural products in the garden just for trade, then one has to give ushr on them.

Question: Is ushr given on silk excreted by silkworms, mulberry leaves, vine leaves and poplars that we grow to sell? Is ushr due on fruit collected in the mountains?
ANSWER
Ushr is given on mulberry leaves that one benefits from and on trees that do not yield fruit, such as poplars, if they are grown for commercial purpose. Ushr is not due on vine leaves or silk excreted by silkworms. If vine leaves are many and sold, the money received is included in nisab, and zakat is given on it. Ushr is due even on fruit gathered in the mountains.

Question: When ushr is given on crops, is zakat given on them if one keeps them for years? Is the money received included in nisab if they are sold?

Hadrat Ibn Abidin says:

Zakat and ushr cannot coexist. That is, both ushr and zakat are not given for a certain property because if zakat becomes fard on a property then ushr is not fard on it. If one gives ushr on one’s crops from one’s land and intends to do trade with the remaining crops, zakat is not given on the remainder even if years pass over them. The situation is the same if one buys a piece of land on which ushr is due and intends to do trade with the crops and years pass over. The reason for this is that it is not valid to intend to do trade so that two duties may not arise on the crops that grow in a piece of land on which ushr is due. Similarly, if one buys a piece of land on which ushr is due with the intention of doing trade and if one grows crops, then that piece of land is not considered to be for trade. (Radd-ul-Mukhtar)

It is written in Se’adet-i Ebediyye:
The property should be bought with the intention of trading. Even if one intends to trade in things that come out of land areas liable to the ushr, or which are obtained through inheritance, or which have become one’s property when one has accepted them, such as presents and bequests, they do not become commercial property because the intention of trading is valid in buying and selling. For example, if a person who obtains wheat from his field gives its ushr or who has obtained property through inheritance keeps it with the intention of selling it and if it is more than the amount of nisab and is kept for more than a year, it is not necessary to give its zakat. If he sows the wheat which he has bought for trade [in order to sell] in his field or if he intends to use personally the animal or the cloth which he has bought for trade, it is no longer commercial property. If later he intends to sell it, it does not become commercial property. The goods that he obtains by selling it or by renting it out become commercial property. If, after buying, he intends to sell the property which he has bought for use or if, when obtaining, he intends to sell the property which he has obtained by inheritance or such things as presents, bequests and alms which become his property by his accepting them or if he intends to sell the wheat he gets from his field, they do not become commercial property. If he sells them and if, while selling them, he intends to use in trade the uruz which (he gets in exchange for them and which) are their samans (badals), these badals (prices, values) become commercial property because trade is a job. It does not happen only with an intention. It is necessary to begin it as well. But giving up trade happens only with an intention. One’s gold and silver belongings and paper money are property of zakat by whatever means one has obtained them.

As is clearly understood from the passages above, zakat is not due on crops on which ushr was given, even if they are kept for years in a barn. However, if they are sold and turned into gold or money, this money or gold will be considered trade goods and included in nisab.

Question: Are engineering outfits and other expenditures deducted for the ushr of honey? How much ushr is given?
ANSWER
No expenditure is deducted. Even if the amount of honey is a little, it is fard to give one-tenth of it to one or a few poor people who are eligible to receive zakat.

Question: Suppose that a man buys saplings, grows them, and then sells them. Does he have to give zakat or ushr on them?
ANSWER
Ushr is due on agricultural produce because he himself grows them. If he did not grow them but bought saplings and sold them, then they would be considered trade goods, and zakat would be due on them.

Question: Is ushr due on tea leaves, tobacco leaves, mulberry leaves, cotton, or clover?
ANSWER
Yes, it is due.

Question: Is it permissible to give ushr not from my crops but by buying crops with the same qualities?
ANSWER
It is not permissible, but it is permissible to give ushr from the crops of current year for missed ushr of previous years.

Question: Is it permissible to give ushr on wheat from flour or from the wheat of previous years?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible.