SECTION ONE GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR ZAKAH ON LIVESTOCK

SECTION ONE GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR ZAKAH ON LIVESTOCK

Zakah is not imposed on livestock of all quantity and kind. There are certain conditions that should be fulfilled for the zakatability of livestock which are ennumerated here:

1. The minimum for zakatability (Nisab)

The first condition is nisab, since zakah is only on the rich, and not every owner of livestock is rich. There always should be a limit above which persons are considered rich. This limit is nisab. It is five camels by unanimous agreement of Muslims for centuries. There is no obligated zakah for anything below five camel, nisab for sheep is forty sheep, also unanimous. Nisab is determined by sayings of the Prophet (p), by his actual practice and by the application of his successors. Nisab for cows varies from five to thirty-two to fifty, depending upon the school of jurisprudence one adopts.

2. The passage of a Year (Annual)

This is reported authentically from the Prophet (p) and his successors. They used to send zakah collectors once every year to take the count on livestock. It was shown in the previous chapter that the condition of the passage of one full lunar year for non-earned assets is accepted unanimously. One can add here that the majority who assert this condition on earned income do not require it on the offspring of livestock that result from reproduction during the year, and accept the zakatable year for offspring to be that of their mothers.

3. They should be pastured naturally

Pastured livestock are those that are grazed on natural and cost-free pasture land during the major part of the year for the purpose of breeding, milking, and putting on weight. 5 The opposite of natural grazing is buying feed.

The condition is satisfied if livestock is pastured naturally most of the year. Pasturing should be made for the purpose of growth, reproduction, and milking; thus if it is made for the purpose of personal riding or eating, these animals are not zakatable, since such allocation removes animals from being growth assets and put them in the category of personal use which is not zakatable as shall be shown in the next subsection.

The reason for this condition is that zakah is obligated on the surplus, what is easy for persons to pay, in accordance to the verse, "take the surplus" 6 and the verse "when they ask you what to spend, say the surplus" 7 , that is, on what does not cost much and grows rapidly. This can only be fulfilled if the animals pastured cost-free, since artificially fed animals have high cost, which makes it hard for people to give then away as zakah.

Zakah on Livestock

This condition is derived from what is reported by Ahmad, al Nasa'i, and Abu Daud from Bahz bin Hakim from his father from his grandfather, who said: I heard the Messenger of God (p) saying about naturally ( cost-free ) postured camels, for each forty, there is one as zakah ... etc. "This saying is graded correct by a group of leading scholars. The adjective "naturally, cost-free pastured" here implies that artificially fed camels are not subject to zakah; otherwise adding such an adjective becomes meaningless, and the Prophet (p) does not speak in vain. It is obvious from this saying that camels characterised, as naturally, cost-free pastured are unlike those that are not. Al Khattabi comments, "When something may have either of two characteristics, and a ruling of Shari'ah is applied to one of them, then the opposite ruling applies to the other

characteristic, by implication". 8 It is also accepted by scholars of the methodology of jurisprudence that giving a specific characteristic in a ruling implies that when the characteristic is absent the ruling does not apply 9 i.e., camels fed by purchased feed are treated differently.

This saying is further supported by a report is the correct collection of al Bukhari and others from Anas, that "if sheep are naturally (cost-free) pastured, and reach 40 in number, there is one sheep as zakah". If the condition of natural free pasture is required on sheep it should also be, by analogy, required on camels and cows, since there should

be no distinction between them. Sayings without such restriction should be taken with reference to those that came with the restriction of natural free grasing.

This is the opinion of the majority of scholars, Rabi'ah, Mlaik and al Layth differ on that. They obligate zakah on manually fed livestock the same way it is on naturally pastured, as implied by the sayings that do not have the restriction. Their explanation of the restricting sayings is that the word "natural or cost-free pasture" is a general description because this was a common adjective of livestock at the time of the Prophet

(p). 10

4. Zakatable livestock should not be working animals

This is the fourth and last condition for zakatability of livestock. It means that they should not be used for cultivation, carrying water or loads or riding, etc. This condition only applies to camels and cows. Abu Ubaid reports from 'Ali, that " There is no sadaqah on working cows."There is also a report that Jabir bin 'Abd Allah said "Animals

working in cultivation are not zakatable." 11 Abu Daud, in his Sunan, reports from Zuhair "We are told by Abu Ishaq from 'Asem bin Damurah and al Harith from 'Ali, (Zuhair said "I think from the Prophet") that he said, "Bring me one-fourth of a tenth, i.e. on each forty dirhams one dirham..." and he continued, "and there is nothing due on working animals." This is reported also by Ibn Abi Shaibah linked to the Prophet, and

by 'Abd Al Razzaq, in his Musannaf, via al Thawri and Mamar as from 'Ali only. 12 Similar reports exist as coming from Ibrahim, Mujahid, al Zuhri, Umar bin 'Abd al Aziz,

and some other Followers. 13 It is also the view of Abu Hanifah, al Thawri, al Shafi'i, and the Zaidis. It is the opinion of al Layth as far as cows are concerned.

Two things support these narrations and this point of view. The first is the principle that assets designated for personal use and service are not zakatable, and by the same

84 Figq al Zakah (Vol. I), Dr. Yusuf al Qardawi

token livestock designated for cultivation, or personal transportation should not be zakatable. It is apparent that such animals are not part of the assets invested for

growth. 14 Secondly, the report of Abu 'Ubaid from al Zuhri, that cows and camels used for carrying riders are not zakatable, and neither are cows used for cultivation. 15 All these are like tools for agriculture, Sa'id bin Abd al Aziz al Tanukhi says "Cows used in cultivation are not zakatable, because the grain produced is being zakated, and it

involves the work of cows. 16 If animals used in the process of farming were to be zakated, zakah would then be double on agriculture, taken once on the means of

production and again on the produce, as rightly stated by Abu 'Ubaid. Malik disagrees with the majority on this ruling, and according to him zakah is obligated on cows and camels, working or not, naturally pastured or not. When the view of Malik was

mentioned to al Thawri he replied "I did not think that anyone would say that". 17 In fairness, one should add that some Malikite jurists lean toward the view of the majority. Ibn Naji quotes lbn 'Abd al Salam as saying "In this regard, the view of the majority is the one that one feels more comfortable with." Abu 'Umar bin 'Abd al Barr shows that Maliketes' view on working animals is in conflict with their position on jewelry

designated for personal use; the latter is not zakatable, according to them. 18