Hello everyone. There is a principle in Islam called Ushr. It is similar to the Islamic principle of Zakaat (mandatory charity) however it is applied to crops, grains, and fruits where the farmer has to give 10% of his yield in charity. If a farmer grows 10 apples, he gives one apple to the poor. This is applied on Muslims only, contrary to what Wikipedia says. The thing which confuses the issue is that the name Ushr was also used for an import tax which the Muslim counties later imposed however this is not the Ushr I am talking about.
Anyways, there is a difference of opinion amongst the different schools of thoughts in Islam regarding what Ushr applied on and who needs to pay it.
PARTY A says that Ushr only applies to storeable crops like dates, grains, rice (crops which go bad quickly like tomatoes, apples, cucumbers aren't taxed) and the farmer only needs to pay if his yields exceed ~650kg that year.
PARTY B says it applies to all goods (storeable and non-storeable) and there is no minimum yield before you need to pay.
There are a few hadith in this matter and both parties have their proof, HOWEVER, the question is what was practiced upon during the centuries of Islamic rule? Is there any mention in Muslim or non-Muslim books regarding this issue? Its an issue which should be well known and well documented but we can't seem to find any information on it. Can you guys help? Thanks
There is mention in history books (and academic journals) on this topic. My research interests don't extend much past the 10th century CE, and not really much into tax issues, but this came up as part of a necessary footnote regarding early Muslim/Christian relations in Egypt and might give you some resources to look into until there is a more substantive response. So, here's what I've got:
See Petra Sijpesteijn, Shaping a Muslim State, 177; Gladys Frantz-Murphy, "The Economics of State Formation in Early Islamic Egypt," in From al-Andalus to Khurasan: Documents from the Medieval Muslim World, ed. Petra Sijpestein et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 106-110. Regarding ʿUshr specifically, see T Sato, s.v. "ʿUshr," in EI2, and Abū Yūsuf’s Kitāb al-kharāj, quoted in Sijpesteijn, Shaping a Muslim State, 187 n. 388. For an overview of the eighth- and ninth-century agrarian revolts in Egypt and the manner in which tax policy contributed to their development, see Mikhail, From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt, 118-127.