Khaberni - The Jordanian Iftaa Department issued a previous fatwa about the rulings on olive zakat, including its obligation, quorum, and amount.
The following is the text of the fatwa as it came from the General Iftaa Department of Jordan:
First: The obligation of zakat on olives:
Zakat on olives is obligatory according to the Hanafis and Malikis, and it is an old opinion of Shafi'i, and a narration according to the Hanbalis; because its yield can be stored; so it resembles dates and raisins. Al-Mawardi said: "As for olives, Al-Shafi'i has two opinions on obligating its zakat: one of them, which is his opinion in the past, includes zakat. Malik also said this because of His saying: (And it is He who produces gardens trellised and untrellised, and date palms, and crops of different shape, and olives, and pomegranates, similar and dissimilar. Eat of its fruit when it yields and pay its due on the day of its harvest) Al-An'am/141" Al-Hawi (3/ 505-506).
Second: The quorum for olive zakat:
The quorum for olives, on which zakat is obligatory, is five wasqs according to the majority, as opposed to Abu Hanifa regarding crops and fruits. If the olives are less than this, there is no zakat on them, and if it reaches five wasqs or more, zakat is obligatory, and the evidence for this is the hadith reported by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, that he said: (There is no charity in what is less than five wasqs) narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, and the term is from Bukhari. A wasq equals sixty sa'ahs.
The quorum for olive zakat equals, in modern weights, 611 kg, as in the book "Al-Maqadir Al-Shar'iyyah" by Sheikh Muhammad Najm al-Din al-Kurdi (p/201), and the book "Irshad al-Salikin" by the late Honorable Dr. Nooh Al-Qudah.
What is considered here is the weight of the olives, not the oil, says Al-Nawawi, may God have mercy on him: "If we say, as per the old opinion, that zakat is obligatory on olives... the quorum is considered olives, not oil. This is the opinion, and Qadi Hussein and the majority conclude this, and Imam Al-Haramain reported the consensus of colleagues on it". Refer to "Al-Majmu'" (5/ 454).
Third: The amount of zakat obligatory in olives:
The obligatory zakat is one tenth if it is watered by rainwater, and half a tenth if it is watered by sprinkle, i.e., from the owner's property, whether the output is oil or olives, because the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: (For what the sky and springs water, or was naturally found, the tenth is due, and for what is watered by sprinkle, half the tenth is due) narrated by Bukhari.
Fourth: It is better to give zakat in the form of oil:
Imam Al-Shafi'i, may God be pleased with him, said: "If he gives out olives, it is permissible; because it is the state of storage," he said: "And I prefer if he gives out a tenth of it as oil; because it is the ultimate form of storage."
Al-Nawawi conveyed this in "Al-Majmu'" (5/ 434) then said, may God have mercy on him: "The soundest views among the colleagues—and mentioned in his old text—is that he is given the choice to either distribute oil or olives, and oil is more appropriate, as he prescribed."
Fifth: Zakat on olives is due from the owner when the fruit is sold on the tree:
It is not permissible to sell the olives on the tree until their edibility is evident and their seeds are hardened, and zakat in this case is obligatory on the owner alone; because zakat is due on olives when the fruit is formed, and it has formed with the owner. Al-Shirbini said: "Zakat is due with the emergence of the fruit's edibility; because then it is a complete fruit" see "Mughni al-Muhtaj" (4/ 461).
Then, if the owner sells the olives after they become edible, it is obligatory to exclude the amount of zakat from the deal or to notify the buyer of this to avoid dispute.
Sixth: The ruling on replacing olives with oil:
It is not permissible to replace olives with oil, but cash must be included in their exchange to avoid riba (usury); because olives are the origin of the oil, and it is not permissible to exchange the same type of food with disparity between them. Al-Shirazi, may God have mercy on him, said: "It is not permissible to sell the origin by its juice, like sesame with oil, and grapes with juice; because if the origin is pressed, it diminishes from the juice that it was sold for" see "Al-Muhadhab" (2/ 37). Imam Al-Mawardi, may God have mercy on him, also reasoned the ruling because they are of the same kind, and similarity between them is absent, as in "Al-Hawi" (5/ 243), and ignorance of the equivalence is a reality of disparity.
Seventh: It is permissible to pay zakat of olives in cash:
The best and most preferable method is to give the zakat from the same kind of wealth, and it is permissible to give it in cash; for the ease of people and for the benefit of the poor, as is the opinion of the Hanafis, where it is said in "The Choice to Explain the Chosen" (1/ 102): "It is permissible in it - i.e., the zakat - to give the value."
Eighth: The costs of pressing olives are not deducted from the zakat:
The costs paid on olives do not deduct from the amount of zakat, but zakat is to be paid from the net produce, as Al-Khatib Al-Shirbini said: "The expenses of drying, filtering, chopping, threshing, carrying, and others—requiring expenses—are upon the owner, not from the zakat money" see "Mughni al-Muhtaj" (4/ 461).
And the proof for this is that the Sharia differentiated in the amount of zakat based on the watering costs; hence, making the obligation half the tenth in the case of paying watering costs. If all agricultural costs were deductible, there wouldn't have been this variance in the obligatory zakat amount. Either, he should give zakat from the yield of olives before pressing, or from the net oil after pressing, and the pressing fee should not be deducted from it. And Allah knows best.
