New land grants made the muqta a profit-taking tax intermediary

Evidence

In this, the muqtfia is given a grant of khara¯j-land, from which he himself collects the khara¯j, but on which he pays the government only a tithe. The difference between the tithe and the khara¯j thus constitutes his profit, and the muqtfia becomes an intermediary between the state and the cultivator. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 355

Categorization

• SEED: The mechanism by which non-resident landlords profited from the gap between tithe paid and kharaj collected is a clean example of intermediary rent capture, usable in any piece on extractive fiscal structures.