The Ruling on ‘Ushr on the Lands of India

Question

Kindly look into whether the lands of India are ‘ushri or non-‘ushri. The scholars have so entangled this question that no side of it appears clear. What, after all, are the common people to do — pay ‘ushr or not? Can the land revenue for land and water that the government has imposed on the public be paid out of the ‘ushr grain or not? Is there ‘ushr on mangoes, guavas, bananas, lemons, greens and vegetables or not, and what will be the way of paying it?

Answer

On the contrary, the scholars have untangled it a great deal. Not today, but several hundred years ago, Shaykh Jalal al-Din Thanesari ﵀, who was a special khalifa (successor) of Hadrat Shaykh ‘Abd al-Quddus ﵀, wrote in his time an independent treatise on this question entitled “Arazi-yi Hind” (“The Lands of India”)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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