Zakat

Malik said, "In my opinion, and Allah knows best, nothing is taken from what comes out of mines until what comes out of them reaches a value of twenty gold dinars or two hundred silver dirhams. When it reaches that amount there is zakat to pay on it where it is on the spot. Zakat is levied on anything over that, according to how much of it there is as long as there continues to be a supply from the mine. If the vein runs out, and then after a while more becomes obtainable, the new supply is dealt with in the same way as the first, and payment of zakat on it is begun on it as it was begun on the first. Malik said, "Mines are dealt with like crops, and the same procedure is applied to both. Zakat is deducted from what comes out of a mine on the day it comes out, without waiting for a year, just as a tenth is taken from a crop at the time it is harvested, without waiting for a year to elapse over it."

Malik said, "The position which we are agreed upon, and which I have heard the people of knowledge mentioning, is that rikaz refers to treasure which has been found which was buried during the jahiliyya, as long as neither capital is required, nor expense, great labour or inconvenience incurred in recovering it. If capital is required or great labour is incurred, or on one occasion the mark is hit and on another it is missed, then it is not rikaz."

Yahya related to me that Malik said, "I consider that if a man dies and he has not paid zakat on his property, then zakat is taken from the third of his property (from which he can make bequests), and the third is not exceeded and the zakat is given priority over bequests. In my opinion it is the same as if he had a debt, which is why I think it should be given priority over bequests." Malik continued, "This applies if the deceased has asked for the zakat to be deducted. If the deceased has not asked for it to be deducted but his family do so then that is good, but it is not binding upon them if they do not do it." Malik continued, "The sunna which we are all agreed upon is that zakat is not due from someone who inherits a debt (i.e. wealth that was owed to the deceased), or goods, or a house, or a male or female slave, until a year has elapsed over the price realised from whatever he sells (i.e. slaves or a house, which are not zakatable) or over the wealth he inherits, from the day he sold the things, or took possession of them." Malik said, "The sunna with us is that zakat does not have to be paid on wealth that is inherited until a year has elapsed over it."

Yahya said that Malik said, concerning two associates, "If they share one herdsman, one male animal, one pasture and one watering place then the two men are associates, as long as each one of them knows his own property from that of his companion If someone cannot tell his property apart from that of his fellow, he is not an associate, but rather, a co-owner " Malik said, "It is not obligatory for both associates to pay zakat unless both of them have a zakatable amount (of livestock). If, for instance, one of the associates has forty or more sheep and goats and the other has less than forty sheep and goats, then the one who has forty has to pay zakat and the one who has less does not. If both of them have a zakatable amount (of livestock) then both of them are assessed together (i.e the flock is assessed as one) and both of them have to pay zakat. If one of them has a thousand sheep, or less, that he has to pay zakat on, and the other has forty, or more, then they are associates, and each one pays his contribution according to the number of animals he has - so much from the one with a thousand, and so much from the one with forty. Malik said, "Two associates in camels are the same as two associates in sheep and goats, and, for the purposes of zakat, are assessed together if each one of them has a zakatable amount (of camels). That is because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'There is no zakat on less than five head of camels,' and Umar ibn al-Khattab said, 'On grazing sheep and goats, if they come to forty or more - one ewe.' " Yahya said that Malik said, "This is what I like most out of what I have heard about the matter." Malik said that when Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "Those separated should not be gathered together nor should those gathered together be separated in order to avoid paying zakat," what he meant was the owners of livestock. Malik said, "What he meant when he said, 'Those separated should not be gathered together' is, for instance, that there is a group of three men, each of whom has forty sheep and goats, and each of whom thus has to pay zakat. Then, when the zakat collector is on his way ,they gather their flocks together so that they only owe one ewe between them. This they are forbidden to do. What he meant when he said, 'nor should those gathered together be separated,' is, for instance, that there are two associates, each one of whom has a hundred and one sheep and goats, and each of whom must therefore pay three ewes. Then, when the zakat collector is on his way, they split up their flocks so that they only have to pay one ewe each. This they are forbidden to do. And so it is said, 'Those separated should not be gathered together nor should those gathered together be separated in order to avoid paying zakat.' " Malik said, "This is what I have heard about the matter."

Yahya said that Malik said, "The position with us concerning a man who has zakat to pay on one hundred camels but then the zakat collector does not come to him until zakat is due for a second timeand by that time all his camels have died except five, is that the zakat collector assesses from the five camels the two amounts of zakat that are due from the owner of the animals, which in this case is only two sheep, one for each year. This is because the only zakat which an owner of livestock has to pay is what is due from him on the day that the zakat is (actually) assessed. His livestock may have died or it may have increased, and the zakat collector only assesses the zakat on what he (actually) finds on the day he makes the assessment. If more than one payment of zakat is due from the owner of the livestock, he still only has to pay zakat according to what the zakat collector (actually) finds in his possession, and if his livestock has died, or several payments of zakat are due from him and nothing is taken until all his livestock has died, or has been reduced to an amount below that on which he has to pay zakat, then he does not have to pay any zakat, and there is no liability (on him) for what has died or for the years that have passed.

Malik said, "If a man has four awsuq of dates he has harvested, four awsuq of grapes he has picked, or four awsuq of wheat he has reaped or four awsuq of pulses he has harvested, the different categories are not added together, and he does not have to pay zakat on any of the categ ries - the dates, the grapes, the wheat or the pulses - until any one of them comes to five awsuq using the sa of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'There is no zakat (to pay) on anything less than five awsuq of dates. 'lf any of the categories comes to five awsuq, then zakat must be paid. If none of the categories comes to five awsuq, then there is no zakat to pay. The explanation of this is that when a man harvests five awsuq of dates (from his palms), he adds them all together and deducts the zakat from them even if they are all of different kinds and varieties. It is the same with different kinds of cereal, such as brown wheat, white wheat, barley and sult, which are all considered as one category. If a man reaps five awsuq of any of these, he adds it all together and pays zakat on it. If it does not come to that amount he does not have to pay any zakat. It is the same (also) with grapes, whether they be black or red. If a man picks five awsuq of them he has to pay zakat on them, but if they do not come to that amount he does not have to pay any zakat. Pulses also are considered as one category, like cereals, dates and grapes, even if they are of different varieties and are called by different names. Pulses include chick- peas, lentils, beans, peas, and anything which is agreed by everybody to be a pulse. If a man harvests five awsuq of pulses, measuring by the aforementioned sa, the sa of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he collects them all together and must pay zakat on them, even if they are of every kind of pulse and not just one kind." Malik said, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab drew a distinction between pulses and wheat when he took zakat from the Nabatean christians. He considered all pulses to be one category and took a tenth from them, and from cereals and raisins he took a twentieth." Malik said, "If some one asks, 'How can pulses be added up all together when assessing the zakat so that there is just one payment, when a man can barter two of one kind for one of another, while cereals can not be bartered at a rate of two to one?', then tell him, 'Gold and silver are collected together when assessing the zakat, even though an amount of gold dinars can be exchanged for many times tha tamount of silver dirhams.' " Malik said, regarding date palms which are shared equally between two men, and from which eight awsuq of dates are harvested, "They do not have to pay any zakat on them. If one man owns five awsuq of what is harvested from one piece of land, and the other owns four awsuq or less, the one who owns the five awsuq has to pay zakat, and the other one, who harvested four awsuq or less, does not have to pay zakat. This is how things are done whenever there are associates in any crop, whether the crop is grain or seeds that are reaped, or dates that are harvested, or grapes that are picked . Any one of them that harvests five awsuq of dates, or picks five awsuq of grapes, or reaps five awsuq of wheat, has to pay zakat, and whoever's portion is less than five awsuq does not have to pay zakat. Zakat only has to be paid by someone whose harvesting or picking or reaping comes to five awsuq." Malik said, "The sunna with us regarding anything from any of these categories, i.e. wheat, dates, grapes and any kind of grain o rseed, which has had the zakat deducted from it and is then stored by its owner for a number of years after he has paid the zakat on it until he sell sit, is that he does not have to pay any zakat on the price he sells it for until a year has elapsed over it from the day he made the sale, as long as he got it through (chance) acquisition or some other means and it was not intended for trading. Cereals, seeds and trade-goods are the same, in that if a man acquires some and keeps them for a number of years and then sells them for gold or silver, he does not have to pay zakat on their price until a year has elapsed over it from the day of sale. If, however, the goods were intended for trade then the owner must pay zakat on them when he sells them, as long as he has had them for a year from the day when he paid zakat on the property with which he bought them."

Yahya said that Malik was asked about whether a man who gave some sadaqa, and then found it being offered back to him for sale by some one other than the man to whom he had given it, could buy it or not, and he said, "I prefer that he leaves it."

Maliksaid, "Payment of all types of kaffara, of zakat al-fitr and of the zakat on grains for which a tenth or a twentieth is due, is made using the smaller mudd, which is the mudd of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, except in the case of dhihar divorce, when the kaffara is paid using the mudd of Hisham, which is the larger mudd."

Yahya related to me that Malik had seen that the people of knowledge used to like to pay the zakat al-fitr after dawn had broken on the day of the Fitr before they went to the place of prayer. Malik said, "There is leeway in this, if Allah wills, in that it can be paid either before setting out (for the prayer) on the day of Fitr or afterwards."

Yahya related to me that Malik said, "A man does not have to pay zakat for the slaves of his slaves, or for some one employed by him, or for his wife's slaves, except for anyone who serves him and whose services are indispensable to him, in which case he must pay zakat. He does not have to pay zakat for any of his slaves that are kafir and have not become muslim, whether they be for trade or otherwise."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Amr ibn Yahya al-Mazini that his father said that he had heard Abu Said al-Khudri say that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There is no zakat on less than five camels, there is no zakat on less than five awaq (two hundred dirhams of pure silver) and there is no zakat on less than five awsuq (three hundred sa)."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd arRahman ibn Abi Sasaca al-Ansari from al-Mazini from his father from Abu Said al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There is no zakat on less than five awsuq of dates, there is no zakat on less than five awaq of silver and there is no zakat on less than five camels."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote to his governor in Damascus about zakat saying, "Zakat is paid on the produce of ploughed land, on gold and silver, and on livestock." Malik said, "Zakat is only paid on three things:

the produce of ploughed land, gold and silver, and livestock."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Uqba, the mawla of az Zubayr, asked al-Qasim ibn Muhammad whether he had to pay any zakat on a large sum given to him by his slave to buy his freedom. Al- Qasim said, "Abu Bakr as-Siddiq did not take zakat from anyone's property until it had been in his possession for a year." Al- Qasim ibn Muhammad continued, "When Abu Bakr gave men their allowances he would ask them, 'Do you have any property on which zakat is due?' If they said, 'Yes,' he would take the zakat on that property out of their allowances. If they said, 'No,' he would hand over their allowances to them without deducting anything from them."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Urwa ibn Husayn from A'isha bint Qudama that her father said, "When I used to come to Uthman ibn Affan to collect my allowance he would ask me, 'Do you have any property on which zakat is due? 'If I said, 'Yes,' he would deduct the zakat on that property from my allowance, and if I said, 'No,' he would pay me my allowance (in full)."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to say, "Zakat does not have to be paid on property until a year has elapsed over it."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Ibn Shihab said, "The first person to deduct zakat from allowances was Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan." (i.e. the deduction being made automatically) . Malik said, "The agreed sunna with us is that zakat has to be paid on twenty dinars (of gold coin), in the same way as it has to be paid on two hundred dirhams (of silver)." Malik said, "There is no zakat to pay on (gold) that is clearly less than twenty dinars (in weight) but if it increases so that by the increase the amount reaches a full twenty dinars in weight then zakat has to be paid. Similarly, there is no zakat to pay on (silver) that is clearly less than two hundred dirhams (in weight), but if it increases so that by the increase the amount reaches a full two hundred dirhams in weight then zakat has to be paid. If it passes the full weight then I think there is zakat to pay, whether it be dinars or dirhams." (i.e. the zakat is assessed by the weight and not the number of the coins.) Malik said, about a man who had one hundred and sixty dirhams by weight, and the exchange rate in his town was eight dirhams to a dinar, that he did not have to pay any zakat. Zakat had only to be paid on twenty dinars of gold or two hundred dirhams. Malik said, in the case of a man who acquired five dinars from a transaction or in some other way which he then invested in trade, that, as soon as it increased to a zakatable amount and then a year elapsed, he had to pay zakat on it, even if the zakatable amount was reached one day before or one day after the passing of a year. There was then no zakat to pay on it from the day the zakat was taken until a year had elapsed over it. Malik said, in the similar case of a man who had in his possession ten dinars which he invested in trade and which reached twenty dinars by the time one year had elapsed over them, that he paid zakat on them right then and did not wait until a year had elapsed over them, (counting) from the day when they actually reached the zakatable amount. This was because a year had elapsed over the original dinars and there were now twenty of them in his possession. After that there was no zakat to pay on them from the day the zakat was paid until another year had elapsed over them. Malik said, "What we are agreed upon (here in Madina) regarding income from hiring out slaves, rent from property, and the sums received when a slave buys his freedom, is that no zakat is due on any of it, whether great or small, from the day the owner takes possession of it until a year has elapsed over it from the day when the owner takes possession of it." Malik said, in the case of gold and silver which was shared between two co-owners, that zakat was due from any one whose share reached twenty dinars of gold, or two hundred dirhams of silver, and that no zakat was due from anyone whose share fell short of this zakatable amount. If all the shares reached the zakatable amount and the shares were not equally divided, zakat was taken from each man according to the measure of his share. This applied only when the share of each man among them reached the zakatable amount, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had said, "There is no zakat to pay on less than five awaq of silver." Malik commented, "This is what I prefer most out of what I have heard about the matter." Malik said, "When a man has gold and silver dispersed among various people he must add it all up together and then take out the zakat due on the total sum ." Malik said, "No zakat is due from some one who acquires gold or silver until a year has elapsed over his acquisition from the day it became his."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Rabia ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman from more than one source that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, assigned the mines of al Qabaliyya, which is in the direction of al-Fur, to Bilal ibn Harith al-Mazini, and nothing has been taken from them up to this day except zakat.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al- Musayyab and from Abu Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace ,said, "There is a tax of a fifth on buried treasure."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim from his father that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to look after the orphaned daughters of her brother in her house. They had jewellery (which they wore) and she did not take zakat from this jewellery of theirs.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to adorn his daughters and slave-girls with gold jewellery and he did not take any zakat from their jewellery. Malik said, "Anyone who has unminted gold or silver, or gold and silver jewellery which is not used for wearing, must pay zakat on it every year. It is weighed and one-fortieth is taken, unless it falls short of twenty dinars of gold or two hundred dirhams of silver, in which case there is no zakat to pay. Zakat is paid only when jewellery is kept for purposes other than wearing. Bits of gold and silver or broken jewellery which the owner intends to mend to wear are in the same position as goods which are worn by their owner - no zakat has to be paid on them by the owner." Malik said, "There is no zakat (to pay) on pearls, musk or amber."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "Trade with the property of orphans and then it will not be eaten away by zakat."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim that his father said, ''A'isha used to look after me and one of my brothers - we were orphans - in her house, and she would take the zakat from our property."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to give the property of the orphans that were in her house to whoever would use it to trade with on their behalf.

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said bought some property on behalf of his brother's sons who were orphans in his house, and that that property was sold afterwards for a great deal of profit. Malik said, "There is no harm in using the property of orphans to trade with on their behalf if the one in charge of them has permission. Furthermore, I do not think that he is under any liability."