(Series of Answers by the Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir, to Questions from Visitors to His Facebook Page)
To Sameh Raihan Abu Maysara
Question:
Assalamu Alaikum. It was mentioned in the book, The System of Islam (Nizam al-Islam), that the Islamic State only obtains sources of funding through Shari’ah-approved methods, and it was also mentioned that it takes customs by virtue of its supervision of internal and external trade.
To what extent is this consistent with your criticism of today's customs duty policies based on the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "The collector of maks (customs) will not enter Paradise"? And does "internal trade" mean that the state imposes customs duties on trade between the provinces (wilayat) of the Islamic State itself?
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
- Regarding the Hadith of maks, it was narrated by Al-Hakim in Al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn, and he said about it: "A Sahih Hadith according to the conditions of Muslim, though they (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it." Its text is: On the authority of Uqbah bin ‘Amir, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
لَا يَدْخُلُ صَاحِبُ مَكْسٍ الْجَنَّةَ
"The collector of maks (customs) will not enter Paradise."
This Hadith applies to the citizens of the State—Muslims and Ahl al-Dhimma. It is not permissible to take customs duties from them on their trade. They may trade without any duties being taken from them, whether that is between the provinces of the Islamic State (i.e., internal trade) or between the Islamic State and abroad (i.e., external trade). Thus, the traders of the Islamic State, Muslims and Ahl al-Dhimma, do not have duties taken from them. This is confirmed by what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stipulated in his letters to those who embraced Islam, that they are not to be tithed (la yu’sharun), meaning customs duties (ushr) are not to be taken from their trade:
- Abu Ahmad Humayd bin Mukhallad bin Qutaybah bin Abdullah al-Khurasani, known as Ibn Zanjawayh (d. 251 AH), narrated in his book Al-Amwal that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wrote a letter to Thaqif when they embraced Islam, in which it stated: Humayd narrated to us... on the authority of Urwah bin al-Zubayr, who said: "This is the letter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to Thaqif:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، هَذَا كِتَابٌ مِنْ مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِيِّ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لِثَقِيفٍ... وَلَا يُعْشَرُونَ
'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This is a letter from Muhammad the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, to Thaqif... and they are not to be tithed...'" meaning, no customs are taken from them on their trade.
- Ibn Shabbah narrated in Tarikh al-Madinah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wrote a letter to the Christians of Najran as Ahl al-Dhimma stating that customs are not to be taken from their trade. It stated: Abu al-Walid narrated to us... on the authority of Abu al-Fath, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made peace with the people of Najran and wrote a letter for them:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، هَذَا كِتَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِيِّ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ لِأَهْلِ نَجْرَانَ إِذَا كَانَ حُكْمُهُ عَلَيْهِمْ... وَلَا يُعْشَرُونَ
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This is a letter from Muhammad the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah, to the people of Najran when his rule is over them... and they are not to be tithed." This means no customs duties are taken on trade from Ahl al-Dhimma, because the Christians of Najran were reconciled as Ahl al-Dhimma, as evidenced by the phrase in the letter "when his rule is over them," meaning the rule of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Abu Ubayd narrated in Al-Amwal from Abdurrahman bin Ma’qal, who said: I asked Ziyad bin Hudayr: "Whom did you use to tithe?" He said: "We never used to tithe a Muslim or a Mu’ahid (one under a treaty)." I said: "Then whom did you tithe?" He said: "The traders of the Harbi (hostile) states, just as they used to tithe us when we went to them." The ‘Ashir (tither) is the one who takes the tithe (ushr) on goods entering the Dar al-Islam from the Dar al-Harb.
Therefore, the trader who holds Islamic citizenship, whether Muslim or Dhimmi, does not have customs duties taken from them.
As for the Harbis (those belonging to states in a state of war with the Islamic State judicially), customs are taken on their trade just as their states take customs from our traders. This is as mentioned by Abu Ubayd in Al-Amwal: "I said: Then whom did you tithe? He said: The traders of the Harbi states just as they used to tithe us when we went to them." It is also mentioned by Ibn Qudamah in Al-Mughni: "On the authority of Abu Mijlaz Lahiq bin Humayd, who said: 'They said to Umar: How should we take from the Ahl al-Harb (people of war) when they come to us? He said: How do they take from you when you enter their land? They said: The tithe (ushr). He said: Then take the same from them.'"
Summary:
Customs duties are not taken from the traders of the Islamic State, whether the trader is a Muslim or a Dhimmi.
Customs are taken from the Mu’ahid (treaty-holding) trader according to the conditions stipulated in the treaty.
Customs are taken from the traders of Harbi states (those in a state of war judicially) just as those states take from our traders.
As for the states in actual war (Harb Fi'lan)—where there is an ongoing state of actual combat—their traders are not permitted to enter our lands because the relationship with them is one of actual war.
Your brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
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