Zakah on coffee

Zakah on coffee Fatwa no. 962 All Praise is due to Allah Alone and peace and blessings be upon our final Prophet.The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has read the paper sent by the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Justice for Judicial Affairs and attached to his letter numbered Q/1/134 and dated 1/2/1395 A. H. To his Eminence (Part No. 9; Page No. 234) Chairman of the Departments of Scholarly Research, Ifta', Da`wah, and Guidance and transferred to them by the Secretariat-General for the Council of Senior Scholars numbered 2/203 and dated 11/2/1395 A. H. The issue of this paper is that the Director of Finances of Abha requested an explanation for the way in which coffee should be estimated, the amount of its Shar`y (Islamic legal) Wasq, and whether or not it may be distributed amongst poor people like the case of grain and dates?

After studying the question, the Committee answered as follows: Coffee is a sort of grain which can be measured and saved and so Zakah (obligatory charity) should be paid on it. This is only due at the time the coffee is estimated when the grains are ripe and the quantity of coffee reaches at least five Wasaqs (1 Wasaq = 60 Prophetic Sa`s =130,320 kg). The percentage that should be paid is one tithe with regard to coffee whose irrigation is not chargeable, meaning, it is irrigated by rain, floods, or its roots take up subsurface water. A half of a tithe is due if the coffee is irrigated by waterwheels, water pots, or machines; while three quarters of a tithe are due when irrigation is chargeable for half a year and not so for the other.The evidence for the obligation of paying Zakah of half a tithe for coffee whose irrigation is chargeable and one tithe on coffee whose irrigation is not is what is related by Al-Bukhari on the authority of Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: On land that is watered by rain water or by natural water channels, ‘Ushr (one-tenth) is compulsory (as Zakat); and on irrigated land, half of a ‘Ushr (one-twentieth) is compulsory (as Zakat on the yield of the land). On the other hand, three quarters of a tithe are due when irrigation is chargeable for half of the year and not so for the other because this percentage is half the total that would be due if each one of the two means of irrigation took place for the entire year. Any way, whatever the due percentage is; it should be directed to channels of spending Zakah just as the case with other grain and fruit. (Part No. 9; Page No. 235) May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.