Zakah: Ottoman Case

Zakah was applied in Ottoman agriculture in a special form of tax known as ushr, a tithe. While it is clear that Islamic principles of taxation were generally applied in Ottoman agriculture, the actual tax rates applied differed from the prescribed zakah rates probably due to the enormously varying local conditions in such a vast empire (Inalcik, 1993:22). We will not attempt here to summarise these complexities since this attempt has already been made (Barkan, 1980).

Source: Poverty Alleviation in Pakistan: Present Scenario and Future Strategy, Mohibul Haq Sahibzada. Republished with permission.