24. Sahl has narrated from Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Hamadani who has said the following. “I wrote to abu al-Hassan , ‘ail ibn Mahziyar read to me the letter of your father that said,

“The owners of gardens pay three percent after deducting the expenses. Those whose gardens would not produce even the expenses there is nothing due on them.” A difference of opinion has risen among our people. They say that on the produce of the gardens there is al-Khums after the deduction of the expenses, the expenses of the garden not the expenses of the owner and his family. The Imam wrote back in answer, “Al-Khums is due after the deduction of the taxes to government and the expenses of one’s family.”