Who Should Pay The ‘Ushr Of The Land Given To Another Person For The Purpose Of Sowing?
Who should pay the ‘ushr of the land given to another person for the purpose of sowing?
There are two different approaches in Türkiye regarding giving a land to another person with the purpose of sowing. One of these is to give the land in exchange of a certain amount of money as rental. In this method, the owner is paid a certain amount of money and does not take any share from the harvest. The other method is that the land is given as joint venture. It is also named as usufructuary in some regions. In this method, the owner is not paid a certain amount of money, but the harvest is shared between the owner and the usufructuary tenant at the rate agreed.
According to the majority’s opinion including Imam Abu Yusuf and Muhammad from the Hanafi school, the tenant is subject to the ‘ushr for the rented land. Because the ‘ushr is due for the harvest, not for the land itself. As the tenant takes all of the harvest, it is under the responsibility of the tenant to give the ‘ushr. After the tenant who farms the land deducts the lease amount along with other additional expenses such as fertilizer, pesticide etc., he must give the ‘ushr for the land if the rest of harvest reaches nisab amount (five wasqs/between 653 kg and 1000 kg depending on the product, e.g. 653 kg for wheat). (Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, III, 267-277; Qaradawi, Fiqh Zakat, I, 400,402)
The ‘ushr for the usufructuary land is given by the owner and the tenant according to the rate of their shares. Each of them pays ‘ushr if their harvest share reaches to nisab amount (Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, III, 278; Qaradawi, Fiqh Zakat, I, 398-399).
It is an encouraged behavior in Islam to lend farms without exchange of money to relatives or the poor for charitable reasons or doing good to relatives. The ‘ushr for the land lended this way is under the responsibility of the one using the land. The owner does not have any obligation. (Qaradawi, Fiqh Zakat, I, 398).
Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWA
