Peace be upon you, our Sayed, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings,
I was at one of the gatherings, and someone raised an objection about khums: namely, that it has not been reported that a hired worker — like employees in our time — owes khums. The narrations reported from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) did not mention it, nor did the books of the early scholars; they mentioned that khums is on mines, agriculture, trade and treasures. So how have the contemporary jurists issued fatwas that khums is obligatory on the hired worker?
Answer
Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings
None of the jurists has said that the hired worker pays khums on what he obtains in the same sense as trade, treasures and the like,
because the discussion of trade and treasure concerns paying khums on what one obtains as soon as the treasure is obtained or profit is made in trade, absolutely — and according to the view of some, it is paid after [reaching] the minimum threshold (nisab). The jurists have not said that the hired worker pays khums on what he obtains in this same sense; otherwise they would have made it obligatory to pay khums on every salary immediately upon receiving it, or upon its reaching a specific threshold.
So it is clear that they did not say that.
Clarifying this issue is important in order to know that the objection does not arise in this way, because it stems from a confusion in understanding the khums of treasures and of trade profits from the outset.
As for the heading that covers paying khums on things other than those sources (treasure and trade profit), it is (the gain after expenses).
So he pays khums on what exceeds the expenses of his year, not on what he obtains during his year.
Its proof is clear from the generality in the meaning of ghanima (gain) in the noble verse: (“Know that whatever thing you may come by, a fifth of it is for Allah and the Apostle, for the relatives and the orphans, for the needy and the traveller, if you have faith in Allah and what We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Separation, the day when the two hosts met; and Allah has power over all things.”) (Qurʾan 8:41). While the Sunnis restricted it to the spoils of war, the Shiʿa said that ghanima is any wealth whatsoever that a person obtains; the linguistic indication is clear that this is a gain.
The noble narrations have indicated this, among them:
In al-Tahdhib: from ʿAli ibn Mahziyar, from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Ashʿari, who said: One of our companions wrote to Abu Jaʿfar the Second (a): Inform me about khums: is it on everything a man gains, little or much, of all kinds, and on craftsmen? And how is that? He wrote in his own hand: Khums is after expenses[1].
The narrator asked about all kinds — meaning every type of thing through which wealth comes to a person, whether little or much — and the Imam answered him that khums is paid after expenses; that is, it is obligatory on every kind of earning, little or much, on condition that it exceeds his expenses.
And in the authentic (sahih) [narration]: from ʿAli ibn Mahziyar, who said: Abu ʿAli ibn Rashid said to me: I said to him: You commanded me to take charge of your affair and to collect your right, so I informed your followers of that. One of them said to me: And what thing is his right? And I did not know what to answer him. He said: Khums is obligatory on them. I said: On what thing? He said: On their goods and their crafts. I said: And the merchant owes it, and the one who works with his hand? He said: If they are able to, after their expenses[2].
His saying “on their goods and their crafts” — and in one manuscript (their estates) — indicates the generality of a person's wealth after his expenses.
And from Imam al-Baqir (a), in a hadith: As for gains (ghanaʾim) and profits (fawaʾid), they are obligatory upon them every year. Allah, the Exalted, said: (“Know that whatever thing you may come by, a fifth of it is for Allah and the Apostle, for the relatives and the orphans, for the needy and the traveller, if you have faith in Allah and what We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Separation, the day when the two hosts met; and Allah has power over all things.” (Qurʾan 8:41)), So gains and profits — may Allah have mercy on you — are the gain that a person gains and the profit that he acquires...[3]
Here there is a clarification from the Imam that ghanima is not specific to the spoils of war; rather, it encompasses all other gains.
And this is what the jurists, may Allah strengthen them, have said.
