Land has a neck (the land itself) and a benefit. Its neck is its origin, and its benefit is its use in farming and other uses. Islam allows the ownership of the neck of the land as it allows the ownership of its benefit, and has put rules for each of them. With regard to the ownership of the neck of the land this has to be examined. If the country which includes this land has been opened by conquest, then the neck of the land will be owned by the State, and the land would be Kharaji land, except if it was in the Arab Peninsula.
If the country was opened peacefully, then this is also to be examined. If the peace treaty stated that the land belongs to the Muslims, and the State settled the people in their land in return for a Kharaj they pay to the State, then this Kharaj remains permanent. The land of such a country remains Kharaji land until the day of Judgement even if its owners embraced Islam or its ownership was transferred to Muslims through sale or in any other way.
However, if the peace treaty stated that the land belongs to them and it remained in their hold and they settled upon it, in return for a certain Kharaj imposed upon them, then this Kharaj is considered like Jizya. Such Kharaj is abolished once they embrace Islam or if they sold the land to a Muslim. In contrast, if they sold the land to a disbeliever the Kharaj remains without being abolished, because the disbeliever is subject to Kharaj and Jizya.
If the people of the country have embraced Islam in their land, like Indonesia, or the land which is part of the Arab Peninsula, then the neck of the land is owned by its inhabitants, and the land is considered ’Ushri land.
The reason for this treatment is that land is a form of property taken as booty in war. It is Halal (allowed) and it is the property of the Bait ul- Mal. Hafs ibn Ghiath narrated from Abu Dh’ib from Zuhri who said: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) accepted the Jizya from the fireworshippers (Majus) of Bahrain. It was accepted from any one of its people who embraced Islam, and his life and his property would be protected, except his land which is considered as booty for the Muslims, because He did not accept Islam initially when He was under no threat.” The difference between the land and the other booties is that other booties can be disposed of by dividing them amongst the Muslims, but the neck of the land is kept under the disposal of the Bait ul-Mal from the legal point of view although, practically, it remains in the hands of its inhabitants who can benefit from it. Keeping the neck of the land with the Bait ul-Mal and enabling the people to benefit from it means that it is a public booty for all Muslims, whether they exist at the time of conquest or they come later on.
As for the Arab Peninsula, all of its land is ‘ushri land, because the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) opened Makkah by force and He left it to its people and did not put Kharaj on it. Moreover, since the Kharaj on the land is similar to the Jizya on the person, it does not apply to the land of the Arab Peninsula as the Jizya does not apply on the necks of its inhabitants. This is the case because the condition for imposing the Kharaj on the land is that its inhabitants are left to what they believe in and what they worship, as was the case of the land of Iraq. While the polytheists of the Arab peninsula had no choice except to embrace Islam or to fight. Allah (swt) said:
“Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the polytheists wherever you find them, take them (captive), besiege them and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repented and established the prayer and paid the zakat then leave their way free.” [At-Tauba: 5] Allah (swt) also said:
“You will be called against a folk of mighty powers, to fight them or they surrender (declare Islam).” [Al-Fath: 16]
As long as no Jizya was taken from the Arab idolaters, then no Kharaj is to be taken from their land.
In all the countries opened to Islam by conquest or opened by peace treaty on condition that the land belongs to the Muslims, the neck of the land is a property of the State. It is then, considered Kharaji land whether it is still under the authority of the Islamic Ummah like Egypt, Iraq, India and Turkey, or it came under the authority of the disbelievers like Spain, Ukraine, Albania, Yugoslavia and others. Every country whose inhabitants declared Islam by themselves without conquest, like Indonesia and all the Arab peninsula, their land is owned by the inhabitants and considered ‘Ushri land.
With regard to the benefit of the land, it is considered a personal property, whether it was Kharaji land, ‘Ushri land, whether it was given to the people by the State, they exchanged it between themselves, they reclaimed it or they secluded it. This benefit gives the person who disposes of the land rights similar to those given to the owners of the neck of the land. So this person has the right to sell it, grant it or leave it behind so as to be inherited from him. This is the case because the State has the right to grant lands to individuals, whether the land is ’ushri or Kharaji. Granting the Kharaji land is appropriating the benefit of the land, while keeping its neck to the Bait ul-Mal. In the case of the ‘ushri land granting is appropriating the neck of the land and its benefit.
The difference between ’Ushr and Kharaj is that ’Ushr is taken from the harvest of the land. This means that the State takes from the land’s farmers one tenth of the real production of the land if it is irrigated naturally by rain water, and it takes half of the tenth of the real production if the land was irrigated artificially by a waterwheel or other similar means. Muslim has narrated from Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “One tenth is put on what is irrigated by the rivers and rain and half of the tenth is put on what is irrigated by the waterwheel.” This tenth is considered a Zakat and is put in the Bait ul- Mal, and it is not paid except to one of the eight categories mentioned in the Qur’anic verse:
“The alms are only for the poor, and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled and to free the slaves, and the debtors, and for the way of Allah (Jihad) and for the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah.” [At-Tauba: 60]
Al-Hakim, Al-Baihaqi and At-Tabarani reported through the Hadith of Abu Musa al-Ash’ari and Mu’adh that when the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) sent them to Yemen to teach people the deen, He (pbuh) said: “Don’t take zakat or charity except from these four things: Barley, wheat, raisins and dates.”
However Kharaj is that which the State takes from the landlord; a certain quantity which it estimates and defines according to the usual estimated production of the land, rather than its actual production. Kharaj is estimated on the land by as much as can be afforded from it, without bringing injustice, neither to the landlord nor to the Bait ul-Mal. It is collected every year from the landlord whether it was planted upon or not and whether it was fertile or barren. Abu Yusuf narrated in Al-Kharaj from Amru bin Maymun and Haritha bin Mudhrab: “Umar bin Al- Khattab sent ’Uthman ibn Hanif to the land of Iraq and He ordered Him to survey it. On each Jareeb (a patch of arable land) whether it was cultivated or overflowed with water, but could be usually used, He put one Dirham and one Qafeez” (about 16kg). Abu Yusuf also reported in the same book Al-Kharaj narrating from Al-Hajjaj bin Arta’a who narrated from Ibn ’Awf who said that “Umar bin Al-Khattab surveyed the land beyond the mountain of Halwan (in Iraq), and on every Jareeb, whether it was cultivated or overflowed with water irrigated by a bucket or something else, and whether it was planted or neglected, He levied a Dirham and one Qafeez.” Kharaj is placed in the Bait ul-Mal in a section other than that of zakat. It is spent on all the aspects which the State decides, in the same way as the other properties of Bait ul-Mal.
Concerning the land which was opened by force and upon which Kharaj was imposed, its Kharaj continues forever. If its inhabitants embraced Islam or they sold it to a Muslim, its Kharaj is not abolished, because its character as being opened by force remains for all time. Accordingly, the new (Muslim) landlords have to pay the ’Ushr and the Kharaj. This is the case because the Kharaj is a right due on the land, while the ’Ushr is a right due on the production of land owned by a Muslim, a matter established by the verses and the Ahadith. There is no contradiction between the two rights, as each one of them is established by its own evidence. With regard to what the Ahnaf chose in not combining the ’Ushr and the Kharaj on the same land, referring to a Hadith from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh): “Ushr and Kharaj do not add together upon a land owned by a Muslim”; this saying is not a Hadith, and the collectors of Ahadith (Huffadh) did not prove that the Prophet (pbuh) said it.
As for the collection of the Kharaj and ’Ushr, it is started with collecting of the Kharaj. If that which is left after paying the Kharaj, of plants and fruits amounts to the Nisab, then the Zakat is taken from it. However, if that which is left after paying the Kharaj is less than the Nisab, then there is no Zakat upon it (i.e. no ’Ushr).