the dynastic caliphates: the umayyads and the reforms 137AgricultureAgriculture occupied a paramount position in the economic chart of
the Islamic state from its early days. The Qur"ànic verses that refer
to the bounties God has given us from land and agricultural produce
and the need to work continuously to preserve and develop such
production are numerous. The Prophet’s encouragement of agricul-
tural development is reflected in the Sunnah in which he is reported
to have said: “He who sows grain or plants a plant will have as his
alms all whatever is eaten from it be it by a person, beast or bird”
and his reply when he was asked which kind of property was the
best, “A field! As long as the rain pours down upon it, and the
owner cultivates it, and gives the due Zakàh on it on the day of
harvesting” (flaœìœMuslim). The Prophet also laid down two main
principles of land ownership, which were to be followed by succes-
sors after him: firstly, “The original rights of ownership in land belong
to God and His Prophet and then to you. But he who revives dead
land has the right of ownership to it”, and secondly, “If one neglects
(enclosed) land for three years, it belongs to him who revives it after-
wards” (ibid.). Islam, after all, found a great support in the seden-
tary community of al-Medìnah. There are however other Aœadìth
attributed to the Prophet which if misinterpreted would lead to the
misconception that the Prophet discouraged settlement in land through
agriculture, but these Aœadìthshould be viewed as particularly related
to the discouragement of giving up the pursuit of Holy war, jihàd,
under the false premise of being engaged in agriculture (Al-Rayyis,
1977).
During the reign of the second Caliph Umar when the Islamic
state experienced political and an economic expansion that was not
experienced before, the Caliph was active in emphasising the fol-
lowing three aspects of state agricultural policy (ibid.):
(a) on the ownership of existing land, “Whoever revives unowned
dead land becomes its owner” and “There is no right to the
holder of the land after three years of no utilisation”,
(b) on the ownership of newly conquered agricultural land, the own-
ership was to rest with the state, representing the community,
and the farming of the land was to be left to the actual culti-
vators even if they were not Muslims, and