There are properties that do not fall under public property, rather they are included in the individual property, because they are things which can be owned by individuals, like land and moveable property. However, the Muslim populace have a right in connection to them. Therefore, these things are not from the individual property, nor are they from the public property. Thus they are State property. The State property is that property in which the Muslims masses have a right, and its management is left to the Khalifah who may assign some of it to them according to what He deems as appropriate. What is meant by his management of this property is that He has the authority over it to dispose of it. This is what is meant by ownership; because the meaning of ownership is that the individual has an authority over that which He owns. Thus, every property whose expenditure is subject to the opinion and Ijtihad of the Khalifah, is considered as State property. The Law Giver has made certain funds State property, where the Khalifah has the right to dispose of them according to his opinion and Ijtihad, such as the booties, Kharaj (land tax), Jizya (head tax) and the like; this is because the Shar’a did not determine the the area in which they may be spent. But where the Shar’a determined the funds should be spent, and did not leave it to the Khalifah to decide according to his opinion and Ijtihad, then this property does not belong to the State; rather it belongs to the area specified by the Shar’a. Therefore, the Zakah is not considered a State property. It is rather the property of the eight categories assigned by the Shar’a. The Bait ul-Mal is the place where the funds will be kept so as to be spent on the designated areas.

Although the State manages the public properties and State property, there is a difference between them. With reagrds to those which belong to the public property, the State has no right to assign or give its origin (body) to anyone, though it has the right to allow the people to take of it based upon an arrangement which enables all of them to benefit from it. This is different from the State property, where the State has the right to give it all to certain individuals and not give to others, and it can prevent all individuals from having it, if it viewed that caring for their affairs necessitated that it is not given to them. So the water, salt, pastures and town parks are not allowed to be given to individuals absolutely, although all peoples can benefit from them, such that the benefit will be for all of them without specifying anyone in particular to the exclusion of others. Al-Kharaj could be spent only on the farmers to the exclusion of others, so as to solve the farming matters. The State is also allowed to spend it on buying weapons only, where it does not give anybody anything of it. In this way, the State dispenses of it as it views to be in the citizens’ (i.e. the Ummah’s) interest.