al-Amwal li-Ibn Zanjawayh
- Author died
- 251 AH
- Editions
- King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies
Kitab al-Amwal (The Book of Revenues) by the traditionist Ibn Zanjawayh (d. 251 AH / 865 CE) is an early classical treatise on Islamic public finance, state administration, and legal rulings governing taxation and public wealth.
Content and Structure
The work gathers prophetic hadiths, statements of the Companions, administrative practices of early caliphs, and reports from early jurists regarding financial obligations, revenue generation, and treasury expenditure. Its main subjects include:
- Governance and Rights: The mutual rights and obligations between the ruler and the subjects, beginning with the obligation of sincere counsel (al-nasiha).
- State Revenues (Fay' and Jizya): The collection and prompt distribution of state revenue (fay'), rules concerning poll tax (jizya) imposed on non-Muslim subjects (Ahl al-Dhimma) and Magians, and the legal status of lands held by treaty (sulh) or conquered by force, including whether converted landholders are liable for kharaj (land tax) or 'ushr (tithe).
- Booty (Ghanima) and the Fifth (Khums): The division of wartime acquisitions and the specific categories entitled to the fifth share.
- Obligatory Alms (Zakat and Sadaqa): Rulings and threshold values (nisab) for the almsgiving of livestock, gold and silver currency, and agricultural produce such as wheat, barley, dates, and raisins, as well as the rules governing the remittance of zakat to authorities.
Relationship to Abu Ubayd's Kitab al-Amwal
The text is closely linked to the earlier foundational treatise of the same title by Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224 AH). Scholars consider Ibn Zanjawayh's work to function substantially as a mustakhraj (an extraction providing parallel transmission chains) upon Abu Ubayd's book. Ibn Zanjawayh frequently quotes Abu Ubayd directly while also reporting traditions through his own distinct teacher chains that converge with Abu Ubayd's authorities higher up the isnad, providing textual variations, additional phrases, and supplementary traditions.
Transmission and Publication
The preserved text has been transmitted primarily through the chain of Ibn Zanjawayh's student Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Khuraym, down to Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Musa al-Simsar, Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Awf al-Muzani, and Abu al-Fath Nasr ibn Ibrahim al-Maqdisi in Damascus. The book was published in three volumes based on extant manuscripts by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
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