Section Four
Az- Zakāt (Alms) Tax
Az- Zakāt (along with the al-Khums), which is a kind of tax, is one of the important pillars in the Islamic Sharī‘ah and its obligation is one of the essential beliefs of Islam; Allah the Most High has mentioned it together with prayer in many verses in the Holy Qur’an and warned of severe punishment for anyone who fails to pay it. Zakāt is obligatory on the following:
1- Livestock, which is divided into three types: camels, cattle and sheep.
2- Crops, which are: wheat, barley, dates and raisins; it is an obligatory precaution to pay it for all grains.
3- The two money types, which are: gold and silver; also paper money (notes), which was invented later, as an obligatory precaution.
All this is upon the following conditions:
1 & 2 – Bolūgh and sanity, throughout the year in the Zakāt for which the elapse of a full year hawl) is conditional, or before the time when it becomes obligatory – as will be explained late – when the elapse of a full year is not conditional. By sanity we mean what is opposite to insanity, so it does not include the temporary loss of mental powers due to losing conscious or drunkenness, nor the more permanent state which is known as ‘coma’.
3- The permanent possession of the items in question throughout the year when the elapse of the full year hawl) is conditional, and before the time when the Zakāt becomes obligatory when the hawl is not conditional.
4- Having control over the possessed money, so Zakāt is not obligatory on mortgages, trusts or stolen money/property nor on debts owed by others, even if one has the ability to collect them.
5- The threshold (nisāb), which means the item in question reaching a given threshold (or minimum taxable amount) as will be explained.
The Zakāt obligation is an act of worship the validity of which must be accompanied by the intention of qorbah (nearness to God by compliance with His commands).
The rulings of each type of the Zakāt-payable items, also the description of those who are worthy of Zakāt payment (to them) and how it is paid is the subject of the following.
(A) The Zakāt of cattle
Livestock here refers to non-wild animals, which are: camels in all their types, cattle including buffaloes, and sheep (which includes goats), excluding all other non-wild animals.
The conditions of Zakāt here are:
First: Threshold (nissāb), the amount of which is different according to the type of livestock:
1- The camel threshold
645. In camels there are twelve thresholds, as follows: in five camels there is one sheep, in ten camels two sheep, in five camels three sheep, in twenty camels four sheep, in twenty-five camels five sheep, in twenty-six camels one nāqah (female camel, which has the name bint mekhād, that is one entering its second year) then in thirty-six one bint lebūn (that is one entering its third year), in forty-six one hoqqeh (that is one entering its fourth year), in sixty-one one jeth’ah (that is one entering its fifth year), in seventy-six two bint lebūn, in ninty-one two hoqqeh, then in one hundred and twenty-one and more, in every fifty one hoqqeh and in every forty one bint lebūn.
Thus, Zakāt is not obligatory on anything less than five, nor on anything that falls between any threshold and the following one, so whoever has more than ninty-one, no more Zakāt is applicable unless the number reaches one hundred and twenty-one - a big difference that may amount to twenty-eight camels - and so on.
646. The bint mekhād, bint lebūn, hoqqeh and jeth’ah are names for a female camel, which is the nāqah, according to its age, and they cannot be replaced (in paying Zakāt) by a male camel. The exception is when the threshold reaches twenty-six; in this case ibn lebūn (which is male) may be paid instead of bint mekhād.
647. Regarding the maximum threshold which is one hundred and twenty-one and more, this should be examined: if the number is a multiple of forty, so that if a forty is counted, and nothing more or less is left, such as if a man has one hundred and sixty, and if the number is a multiple of fifty also, such as if he has one hundred and fifty, or if it is a multiple of any of these, such as if he has two hundred, in this case he has the choice of counting on the basis of any of them; but if the number he has is a multiple of both of them, he counts on the basis of both, such as if he has two hundred and sixty, in this case he regards it as two fifties and four forties.
2- The cattle threshold
648. There are two thresholds for cattle:
First: Thirty, the Zakāt of which is one tabi’, which is a cow (bull) that has entered its second year; the tabi’ah (female of tebi’) is not acceptable as a precaution.
Second: Forty, the Zakāt of which is one mosinneh, which is a cow that entered its third year.
If the number is less than thirty, there is no Zakāt applicable; also when the number is between thirty and forty. When the number is higher than forty, the count is to be done on the basis of the number that no allowance (no payment) is applicable, with the same details as in the camels above, so that anything between one and nine more than the threshold is not to be included in the Zakāt.
3- The sheep threshold
649. There are five thresholds in sheep:
The first one is forty, the Zakāt of which is one sheep, then one hundred and twenty-one, the Zakāt of which is two sheep, then two hundred and one, the Zakāt of which is three sheep, then three hundred and one, the Zakāt of which is four sheep, then four hundred, the Zakāt of which is one sheep for every hundred whatever the number, without anything applicable on what is less than the first threshold or what falls between one threshold and the one that follows.
650. The diversity of type does not call for a specific threshold, thus the same thresholds and Zakāt for cattle apply on buffaloes and the same for sheep apply for goats.
651. The sheep that is used to pay for the thresholds of sheep or camels does not necessarily have to be part of the same herd, and both male and female is allowed regardless of the sex of the livestock on which Zakāt is paid; it must have entered the second year if it is a sheep, and the third year if it is a goat.
652. The animal that is paid as Zakāt must be young, normal and healthy if all or some of the cattle in question is likewise, however, if all of it was old, with defects or ill, the Zakāt paid may be made from it.
653. Zakāt is obligatory on livestock every year as long as it is not less than the threshold, and as long as it is the same without the particular animals being replaced, otherwise the Zakāt will not be obligatory except in the year in which all conditions were met.
654. It is allowed to pay the value (in money) instead of the animal, but the value must be established at the time when Zakāt is being paid not when it becomes payable, and in the country where it is paid, although it is better to pay the higher of the two values: the one in the country where the payment is made and the country of the cattle in question.
Second: They should not be fed on ‘alaf (feed)
655. For Zakāt of livestock to become obligatory, the animals must be grazing on plants on the ground that find all year round, without any distinction between the grazing areas being public or privately owned, and regardless if the feeding is done every day, two days or three days.
Third: They should not be working (see precaution below)
656. The traditional ruling of the scholars is that it is conditional that the livestock should not be involved in work such as ploughing or weight bearing, but it is an obligatory precaution to pay Zakāt on working cattle if other conditions apply.
Fourth: The elapse of a hawl (one year)
657. For the Zakāt to become payable, one full year must have elapsed with the possession with the owner, with all the general and specific conditions, so if some of these conditions become invalidated in part of the year, Zakāt will not longer be payable.
658. It is sufficient for a hawl to have elapsed at the beginning of the twelfth month, therefore; if some of the conditions become invalidated after that, the Zakāt will still by payable; however, the beginning of the new hawl is not counted until after the end of the last day of the twelfth month and the beginning of the first day of the following month.
659. If the cattle increased during the hawl by their reproduction, buying new cattle or otherwise, there are four possible scenarios:
1- The increase equals the allowance that falls between two thresholds, such as if the owner had five camels and four more were added; in this case nothing payable on it.
2- The increase equals the amount of a separate threshold, such as if he had five camels and increased by five; in this case a new hawl is to be set for the increase starting from the moment it started, i.e. he starts counting a new hawl for the new five camels.
3- The increase equals the amount of a separate threshold on the one hand and completing the previous/lower threshold on the other; in this case a specific threshold is to be set for the increase, such as if one had twenty camels and six more were added, here twenty-six is a complete threshold, and it is also completing the threshold after twenty which is twenty-five; therefore he pays after their complete hawl five sheep and bint mekhād from the camel type.
4- The increase completes the threshold, such as if he had thirty cows and this became forty-one, or he had eighty sheep and increased another forty-two; in this case he should complete the hawl for the original amount and pay its Zakāt, then start a new hawl for the whole (new) amount.
(B) The Zakāt of crops
660. Zakāt is obligatory on the four crops: wheat, barley, dates and raisins, and indeed in other grains such as lentils, rice and Indian pea/gram (māsh) as an obligatory precaution, on the following two conditions:
First: Threshold (nissāb), which is achieving a certain amount of harvest in the given season, which is, in all grains: eight hundred and forty-seven kilograms approximately or more, so if it is less than this even if by a very small amount, no Zakāt will be applicable.
The criterion in specifying the threshold is the dry state. So in raisins, for example, the amount to be checked for its weight is the raisins, not the grapes, the weight of which might be equal to the threshold (or more) but then it is reduced when they become raisins due to desiccation (losing water).
Second: The ripening of the fruit, since Zakāt is not applicable before then. The criterion for a fruit that has ripened is that it is commonly regarded as (mature) wheat, dates or grapes: in wheat and barley the strength of the grain, becoming completely formed, even if it is still a green; in palm trees and grapes, for this condition to be satisfied, it is not when the date is still hard and yellow or the grape unripe and sour, but they must be regarded as dates and grapes.
661. The amount of Zakāt to be paid varies according to the irrigation method used, which may take two forms:
1- If it is naturally irrigated by rainfall, from dug trenches, from water that remains in the earth or other means that do not cost anything, in this case the Zakāt payable is one tenth (1/10).
2- If it is irrigated using the effort of the workers such as by buckets, watermills or modern machines, in this case the Zakāt payable is half of the tenth (one twentieth, 1/20).
662. If the land is irrigated using both methods, then if one method is more dominant than the other, it is the one which counts; but if the two methods were used to equal effect, in this case the harvest is to be divided into two and one tenth is to be paid on one half and one twentieth on the other half, i.e. three quarters of the tenth (one fifteenth, 1/15) is to be paid.
663. If the quality of the harvest varies, here are several assumptions:
1- The range is from good quality upwards; in this case it is allowed to pay the Zakāt on the better quality harvest from the less-good quality part.
2- The range is all of poor quality; in this case it is allowed to pay the Zakāt on the better part of the worst of the harvest.
3- The harvest contains both good and bad quality; in this case it is not allowed to pay the Zakāt of the good quality from the bad quality harvest, but it is obligatory to pay the Zakāt from the good harvest only.
664. What the farmer spends on his farm falls into two parts:
1- What he spends before the Zakāt becomes applicable – this part is not excluded from the Zakāt calculations.
2- What he spends after Zakāt becomes applicable, such as the costs of harvesting, fruit gathering, storage and packaging – these are to be counted then excluded from the Zakāt according to their ratio to the harvest, with the permission of the Islamic authority (al-hākim ash-Shar’i).
665. It is allowed to pay the Zakāt of crops as money or as crops of other kinds, although it is better not to do this and to stick to paying it from the same taxed crop.
666. The Zakāt of crops is payable once even if the (number of livestock equal to or more than the) threshold stayed available several years.
(C) The Zakāt of money
667. Zakāt is obligatory in every form of money in which gold or silver was used in its coinage to a dominant ratio; therefore it is a problem to make a ruling of obligation of Zakāt on coins made from metals other than gold or silver when the mixture of gold and silver in them is so small that the coin cannot be regarded as being gold or silver, which is the case if the ratio of gold or silver to the total reaches a certain threshold that will be mentioned below, in addition to other conditions.
668. For the Zakāt of the two (gold and silver) coins to become payable, three things are necessary:
First: The gold and silver pieces must be made into coins to be used as money in transactions, so that the metal is no longer an alloy or some unmade ingots, whether the coins are made with the Islamic stamp (sikkat al-Islam) or a non-Muslim stamp (sikkat al-Kofr), and whether the coin is engraved or not.
The coins, in addition to their coinage, must be used as money in commercial and other transactions, so Zakāt is not obligatory on old dinars and dirhams which have become antiques. That said, Zakāt will be obligatory on old coins that have not been abandoned completely, if they continue to be used among some people in their transactions, such as in the golden lire in all its sought-after types in the money exchange market and the like; this is provided that the other conditions are present.
Second: Reaching the threshold (nissāb), i.e. the minimum taxable amount, which is different in gold and silver as follows:
1- The threshold of gold is: the weight of 20 dinars of gold, one dinar of which equals in our time one half golden Ottoman, Reshādi lire, the Zakāt of which is approximately half a dinar, i.e. quarter of the tenth (one fortieth, 1/40). So, it is not obligatory on anything less than twenty, nor on anything that is more until it reaches four, where a quarter or the tenth is payable on the additional four; and so on in every four after the twenty.
2- The threshold of silver is: the weight of 200 dirham of silver, and since the weight of one dirham is two and a half grams (2.5g), this threshold will weigh 500g, the Zakāt of which is: a quarter or the tenth as well, i.e. 5 dirhams; if it is less than that, no Zakāt is payable; the same applies, i.e no Zakāt payable, on anything more until the addition reaches forty dirham then one dirham of Zakāt is payable, then one dirham is to be paid on every additional forty, and so on.
Third: The elapse of a hawl (one year), which means the same money staying with their owner for a full year; the hawl ends on the beginning of the twelfth month when Zakāt becomes obligatory; however the new hawl does not start until the end of the twelfth month and the beginning of the following month, as was mentioned in the hawl of cattle.
669. The criterion in the threshold is the dinar and dirham according to their weight, not the amount of pure gold or silver present in them.
670. Gold coins are regarded as separate type so their threshold is checked on its own; likewise the silver coins. But if the gold is made up of different coins, such as Ottoman lire and South African Krugerrand, then they must be added in one threshold even if the weights differ; the same goes for silver dirhams.
671. Zakāt on the two money types (i.e. gold and silver) is obligatory in every year as long as the money equals (or exceeds) the threshold, and that they were not replaced (i.e. they are the same individual coins), so if the coins were replaced with others or if the amount became less than the threshold, Zakāt would no longer be payable.
Note regarding paying the khums (20% levy) on Zakāt-applicable possessions:
672. The Zakāt rulings which we explained for the above-mentioned possessions do not mean that the Zakāt paid will cancel the khums obligation on them if its conditions apply; the khums rulings, which we are going to explain later, apply on everything including the Zakāt-applicable property. Here are some examples on this:
1- Someone owns the Zakāt threshold of wheat and has paid its Zakāt, then if he sells what is left or if he keeps it to maintain himself for the year, he must check after the elapse of one year, or after arriving at his khums new year, to pay the khums on the wheat that is left or its value; this is because the rulings of fāil al-Me’ūneh (the sustenance surplus), which will be explained, apply to it.
2- If someone has capital consisting of gold coins or bank notes to trade with, he has to pay its Zakāt according to the previous conditions, then he has to pay its khums after one year from the start of using it as a commercial capital; therefore, the time to pay Zakāt might fall within the same time as the time to pay khums, in which case both of them become obligatory together, but one of them might become due before the other depending on the khums conditions being met in each of them.
3- Someone who has reached the sheep Zakāt threshold and traded with the sheep themselves, here, in addition to the obligatory Zakāt, he has to pay khums on anything that exceeds the sheep's price, even if he did not sell them.
And so on in other situations.
(D) Rulings regarding paying Zakāt
It is not allowed to delay paying Zakāt without a compelling excuse; it is also not acceptable to pay it before it becomes applicable. That said, it is allowed for the owner – before it becomes applicable – to pay a poor individual money as a loan, then after Zakāt becomes applicable he counts this loan as Zakāt.
673. It is not obligatory to pay Zakāt to all the eight types that will be mentioned, rather it is allowed to pay it to one type of them; it is also allowed to be paid to one person of that type.
674. It is not obligatory to pay Zakāt to the merji’ (grand Islamic scholar/jurist) during the period of occultation, although this is better. That said, if he requests it from his position as the Islamic authority (al-hākimiyyeh), then it becomes obligatory on his followers as well as others to pay it to him.
675. It is allowed for the owner to transfer the Zakāt from the country where it is applicable to another country, even with the existence of entitled individual(s) in the country where it is applicable.
(E) Types of entitled individuals
676. Zakāt may be paid to eight types of people as follows:
First and second: The foqerā’ (sl. faqir) and mesākīn (sl. miskin); the faqir is one who does not possess enough to maintain himself and his family for one year, whether his income is provided in full or in instalments (such as weekly or monthly wages); the miskin (someone who is destitute) is one whose circumstances are worse than those of the faqir. What is meant by /maintenance is the means to cover needs such as expenses for marriage, a house to live in, a transport vehicle, cost of medical treatment and so on. In this regard, the following points must be observed:
(a) The one who is capable of earning his living but he does not do so is not allowed to be given Zakāt, unless the profession/job that is open for him to earn his living is one that is not appropriate to his social status, in which case it is allowed.
(b) Students of religious studies who are capable of earning a living that is appropriate for their needs and which will not harm their studies should not benefit from this share (sehm) but from the share of sebīli-Llāh (those working on the way of God) if they are undertaking effective activity in religious propagation and preaching; also others whose effort supports and strengthens the religion.
(c) It must be ascertained that the person is indeed poor; in this case the witness of a trustworthy person is sufficient; also one who claims poverty and is trustworthy should be believed.
Third: The Zakāt collectors (al-‘Āmilūn ‘alayhā), who are the employees who collect, categorise, count, save. etc the Zakāt.
Fourth: The persons who need to be attracted to or strengthened in their Islam (al-Mo’allafah qolūbohom); these are Muslims whose belief in Islam has become weakened and it is feared that they may go astray and become deviant, so they are given Zakāt to strengthen their Islam and to help them hold on to it.
It also includes non-Muslims who it is hoped will become Muslims and help Muslims in the nation’s general interests.
Fifth: The slaves (al-Riqāb), which means the spending of Zakāt by the state to set free the slaves who have promised their masters money to free them, but they have failed to do so due to their financial inability, or to free the slaves who are oppressed by their masters, or rather to free all slaves that aspire for freedom. In our times, however, this share is due to be transferred to the other types.
Sixth: Those in debt (al-Ghārimūn), who have become over-burdened by their debts and are unable to pay them back, on the condition that the loan is not spent in disobedience to God (i.e. on forbidden acts).
Seventh: In the way of God (fi sebīli-Llāh), which is anything that has good public benefit, such as building mosques, schools, hospitals, defence, reform and fighting corruption.
Eighth: The stranded traveller (ibn as-Sebīl), who is the traveller that cannot return to his homeland and has no money; it is allowed to give Zakāt to him for returning and for his personal expenses, on the condition that his travel was not sinful, and he is not able to borrow money, nor able to sell a property in his country as an obligatory precaution.
(F) Description of the entitled individuals
677. The following conditions must be met in those to whom Zakāt may be paid:
First: Islam, which is a condition exclusive to the faqir and miskin not the rest of the types, so Zakāt cannot be given to the unbelieving poor; it is also more proper for the person to abstain from paying to a non-follower of Ahlul Bayt (as).
Second: Abstention from (major) sins, which is exclusive to the faqir and miskin only, not to the rest of types; the important thing here is knowledge that the paid person shall not spend the money in sinful acts – it is an obligatory precaution that the paid person should not be one who drinks alcohol, nor publicises his corrupt deeds or the fact that he does not pray
Third: Not one of his dependants, such as his father, grandfathers, sons or permanent wife; this is in their personal needs that the person paying the faqir and miskin only, not the rest of types, has to meet (for them); regarding anything extra, however, such as if his father has a servant who is in debt, there is no objection that the son pays the faqir and miskin only not the rest of types for this purpose.
Fourth: Not a Hāshimīte if the Zakāt is from a non-Hāshimīte; a Hāshimīte is one who is a descendent of Hāshim, the great grandfather of the Prophet (sawa). This ruling is exclusive to the Zakāt and fitrah Zakāt (see (G) below), so it is not forbidden for the Hashemite to be paid from other obligatory and recommended alms such as keffāreh or money/property ascribed to the poor in wills. It is sufficient in paying a non- Hāshimīte not knowing that the poor is a Hāshimīte, so it is not obligatory to search until reaching a certainty that the payee is not a Hāshimīte.
(G) The fitrah Zakāt
This is an amount of money paid on every person on the morning of the Eid al-Fir (the first day of Shewwāl, the tenth lunar month).
678. For the fitrah Zakāt to become obligatory, the following are conditions:
1 and 2 – Bolūgh and sanity, so it is not obligatory on the young, nor the insane, except one whose insanity strikes himonly sporadically, if the time when it becomes obligatory coincides with one of his periods of sanity.
3- Non-poverty, so it is not obligatory on the poor person who does not possess enough to maintain himself for the year, even if in instalments (such as weekly or monthly wages).
679. These above conditions must exist before sunset of the night of the first of Shewwāl (i.e. sunset of the last day of Ramadan), although it is an obligatory precaution to pay it if they are met at sunset or after it up to the time before noon of the day of Eid. The exception to this is the non-Muslim who embraces Islam, a baby being born or a woman becoming a wife and one of his dependants, after sunset; in these cases it is not obligatory on them nor on the person who provides for them to pay the fitrah unless the wife was not a dependant of anyone before her marriage, in which case she must pay on herself if she is capable of doing so.
680. If the conditions of obligation are met, the person must pay it on himself and his dependants, who are:
1- Individuals whose expenses he must cover, for whom he is actually providing, such as his parents, wife and children.
2- Relatives who live in his house and under his care for whom he has undertaken to provide, such as brothers and sisters.
For these two types, providing for them is not sufficient, but they must be part of his dependants, in which case it is not conditional that they are permanently present, nor on the night of Eid in particular, so their fitrah is obligatory even if they are not living with him or if they are away from his house for travel or the like.
3- Servants who live in his house, so this does not include servants who live separately, unless they spend the night of the Eid in his house, in which case they turn into the guest type that follows.
4- Guests who are spending the night in his house in a way that they are commonly regarded as his guests; the important thing in this is spending the night, even if they did not eat there, so it does not include someone who spent the evening or ate there but did not stay to spend the night. The guest must have come before the night of the Eid, although it is an obligatory precaution to include those who came after sunset on the night of Eid.
681. If the person who provides for the family is poor and some of his dependants are not poor, it becomes obligatory on the financially able to pay the fitrah on himself, provided that all conditions exist.
682. The fitrah must be something that is regarded as food, such as wheat and its derivatives, barley, dates, milk and its derivatives, rice, corn and the like. It is allowed to pay the value of this, and such value is to be that at the time of paying, in the country where it is paid, not the payer's own country.
The amount of fitrah is: three kilograms (3kg) on every person, provided that it is from one type and one for each given person.
683. It is allowed to pay the fitrah during the month of Ramadan, or on the night of the Eid, but it is better to pay it to the poor as a loan, then regard it as a fitrah Zakāt on the morning of the Eid. And if it was not paid before the day of the Eid, the time to make it ready is: from dawn on the day of the Eid to the time before the Eid prayer as an obligatory precaution for those who have prayed the Eid prayer, but if not this time stretches to before noon.
684. It is allowed for the payer to specify the fitrah Zakāt from a certain money source and put it aside during the time it must be made ready, then he can delay paying it, even if for days, until he can give it, or send it, to an entitled person(s), as long as the delay is reasonable, such as to reach a scholar or to execute some personal duties. But if the payer did not specify this until noon of the day of the Eid, it is then precautionary to pay it with the intention of qorbeh motlaqeh (same as intention of qorbeh, i.e. to seek nearness to God by complying with His commands, but without designating whether it is adā’ in the time or qadā’ afterwards), without regard to its obligation on him.
In addition, for specifying (the fitrah out of his money) it must involve true specifying and putting aside, so the intention to do so is not sufficient, such as if he says, for example this sack of wheat contains the fitrah Zakāt.
685. When entitled persons exist in the country of the payer, as an obligatory precaution it is not allowed to send the fitrah Zakāt to another country, but since paying it to the just scholar is more precautionary, it is allowed to send it to the country of the scholar, even given the existence of entitled people in the payer’s country.