Compass – Amman

With the peak season of harvesting olive trees and producing oil from them, Islamic studies professor Dr. Ibrahim Al-Jarmi called for remembering the blessing of God Almighty with this blessed plant, warning against falling into blasphemy by committing some of the Sharia’s prohibitions in investing and trading with it.

And Dr. Al-Jarmi confirmed in statements to:compass“The first act that the owner of the crop does as a matter of gratitude for the blessing is to pay the zakat of the crop.

He explained that the zakat quorum for olives is 612 kilograms, and one-tenth must be paid.

Olive trees constitute about 20% of the cultivated lands and about 75% of the trees in Jordan.

Al-Jarmi mentioned a number of forms of fraud in the oil trade, including mixing it with other oils, concealing its source, or not revealing its quality level, and specifying if it was poor or the date of its production.

The Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Al-Hanifat, said that olive cultivation in Jordan is witnessing continuous development, and the cultivated areas amounted to 570 thousand dunums, including 11 million olive trees.

And the Islamic studies doctor stressed that “there is nothing wrong with selling olive oil in installments, but with conditions, including that people are not exploited and that it is not from bad oil, just as it is not permissible to impose fines if one of them fails to pay one or more installments.”

The minister made it clear that the olive sector is one of the most important agricultural sectors in Jordan, and it is linked with other sectors that contribute to providing productive inputs, especially the food industry sector, in addition to being a traditional product and its spread is closely linked to its great economic, environmental and social importance.

And he indicated that the majority of olive presses in the Kingdom are modern and equipped with advanced production lines, keeping pace with the latest technology in the world, which increases the quality of the olive oil produced and its ability to compete and excel.

For his part, Hadi Khaitan, head of the Food Inspection Department at the Food and Drug Administration, said on Wednesday that the real criterion for detecting adulteration of olive oil is the report and laboratory examination only.

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He stressed that the number of oil adulteration cases in Jordan this year is very small compared to previous years.

Al-Khitan advised the Jordanians not to be tempted by the low prices of oil, and to buy from an approved press or an authorized seller.