The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c11.27

c11.27

The zakāt on imports was a fortieth of the value of the merchandise; on horses it was 5 per cent. These charges were doubled in the case of non-Muslim traders.⁶ Ibn Baṭṭūṭah found that the sultanate charged a quarter as duty on all imports, but he affirms that it was reduced later by Muḥammad bin Tughluq to the legal ratio.⁷ Probably the sultan had increased the import duty when his finances worried him; the restoration of the legal proportion must have been the result of a decrease in revenue owing to the adverse effect of his enhanced impost on trade. Sikandar Lodī, owing to a transient shortage of corn, abolished the zakāt on grain and it was not renewed by any subsequent sultan.⁸ Some sultans were not content with this tax and levied a cess called dāngānah, which is mentioned among the taxes abolished by Fīrūz Shāh. When the zakāt had been assessed in the sarāi 'adl, on the commodities brought for sale, they were taken to another warehouse called darībah or khazīnah, where they were weighed again.