Do I have to pay zakah on fruit?

     All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet, the Messenger of Allah, and all his Family and his Companions.

     Jurists are not agreed about the obligation of zakah on fruits and vegetables, and the preferred opinion used in fatwas is that zakah is obligatory on everything that the earth produces, be it little or much, without regard to the minimum threshold (niṣāb) and the lapse of the Hijri (lunar) year. This fatwa has been adopted by the Ḩanafi and Zāhiriya schools of jurisprudence, and the opinion of Ibn ˁAbbās, Mujāhid, Ḩammād bin Abi Suleiman, ˁUmar bin Abdul ˁAziz, Ibrahim Al-Nakh’i and Ibn Al-ˁArabi from the Māliki school who attributed it to Ibn Al-Majshon from the Māliki school in ˀUṣūl Al-Thimār. One of their proofs is the saying of Almighty Allah: “O you who have attained faith, spend of the good things you have earned and from what We have brought out for you from the earth” (Qur’an, 2: 276).

     The verse does not differentiate between vegetables and fruits or any other type whether it is much or little. Allah Almighty says:

     “It is He Who initiated gardens, both cultivated and wild, and date-palms and vegetation of diverse crops and olives and pomegranates, similar yet dissimilar. Eat of its produce when it has yielded its produce and give its due [zakah] on the day of its harvest, and do not be extravagant; surely He does not love the extravagant” (Qur’an, 6: 141).

      Therefore, the committee sees that the zakah on vegetables and fruits is obligatory, whether the harvest is little or much.

     The amount of this zakah is half a tenth (5%) for the land irrigated by machines, and the tenth (10%) when it is irrigated by rivers and rain without cost or difficulty. Al-Bukhāri narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “With regard to what is irrigated by rainfall and spring water, or has a taproot, the zakah is one tenth, and with regard to what is irrigated by drawing water, the zakah is half of one tenth.”

     The consensus on this opinion was reported by many scholars, such as Ibn Abd al-Barr, Ibn Baṭṭāl and al-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on them all.