the abbasìd’s golden age 185UshrTax
Still under land taxation, the ushrland tax was the land tax, the rate
of which was one-tenth, or half of that, one-twentieth, depending
upon the state of land and irrigation. The base of tax included four
types of land: (a) land in the hands of Muslims, (b) lands in the
hands of the People of the Book in Arabia, Christian and Jews, (c)
lands of qata"i, and (e) revived lands. In terms of the tax rate and
the justification for the variation from that established before him,
Abù-Yùsuf ’s proposal is outlined below.
Lands in the hands of Muslims
The tax base was the land owned by Muslims before the Islamic
conquests, i.e. lands in Arabia, and outside Arabia if purchased after
the conquests. The latter type was a development that was witnessed
during the Umayyads and the Abbasids but was not approved of
during Caliph Umar’s time. We notice that during Caliph Umar’s
reign the purchase of land by Muslims outside Arabia was not per-
missible as the conquered land was regarded as collectively owned
by all Muslims. “These are the owners of the land, have you pur-
chased it from them?!”, said Caliph Umar while pointing to Muslims
sitting at a meeting, in reproach of someone who purchased land in
Iraq (Abù-Yùsuf ). But the rule seemed to have been relaxed after
Umar’s time.
The tax rate was one-tenth, ten percent, if the land was irrigated
naturally, by rainfall or canals. Half of that, five per cent, would
apply if the irrigation was undertaken artificially such as by using
labour and machinery, or if the land was in need of extra toil in
digging and tilling, which would incur extra expenses. As the rate
was determined by the Prophet during his life, that was not to be
changed. However, the rate could deviate from that, in Abù-Yùsuf ’s
view, on Muslims’ land outside Arabia. And this is where the Œanafì
approach to jurisprudence became operational. He believed that the
Prophet’s ruling covered only lands in Arabia, as other lands were
not conquered during his time, and it was wrong to include villages
of Persia under the terms of the Arabian villages. He advocated that
land of Iraq should be treated differently, be taxed at a higher rate
than ushr, and the ruler would be legitimately acting if he deviated
from the practice of the Prophet in this particular regard. Practically,