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Tithe on the trade of non-Muslims (ushr)

In the lexicon, ushr is a tenth. As a technical term it is either the tithe on trade and sales or the tithe on produce or zakat on what the land yields; this entry treats the tithe on trade, which is levied on goods of non-Muslims carried for trade from one town of the Muslim lands to another. It is taken from non-Muslim merchants when they enter the territory of Islam with their goods, on the basis of a prophetic report, a consensus of the early community and reasoning about the protection the state gives to traders; Muslim merchants owe nothing beyond zakat. The liable persons are treaty-merchants, protected non-Muslims and enemy merchants under safe-conduct, and the schools set further conditions: adulthood, sanity, male sex, a threshold, and freedom from debt, which some schools reject. The rate differs: the Hanafis and Hanbalis take half a tenth from a protected non-Muslim, the Malikis a full tenth except on grain brought to Mecca and Medina, and the Shafi'is leave it to the imam's terms. The imam or governor is entitled to collect it, through a collector who must be a Muslim, free, knowledgeable and able to protect traders; farming the collection out is treated and disliked by some jurists. It lapses on conversion and may be waived by the imam for goods the Muslims need, and it is spent on the fay' purposes.

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Tithe on the trade of non-Muslims (ushr)