Zakat

Yahya related to me that Malik said, "A man does not have to payzakat 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 whoseservices are indispensable to him, in which case he must pay zakat. Hedoes not have to pay zakat for any of his slaves that are kafir andhave not become muslim, whether they be for trade or otherwise."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Amr ibn Yahya al-Mazini thathis father said that he had heard Abu Said al-Khudri say that theMessenger 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 lessthan five awaq (two hundred dirhams of pure silver) and there is nozakat on less than five awsuq (three hundred sa)."

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

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

Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Uqba, the mawlaof az Zubayr, asked al-Qasim ibn Muhammad whether he had to pay anyzakat 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'sproperty until it had been in his possession for a year."

Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad continued, "When Abu Bakr gave men their allowanceshe 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 oftheir allowances. If they said, 'No,' he would hand over theirallowances to them without deducting anything from them."

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

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

Yahya related to me from Malik that Ibn Shihab said, "The firstperson 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 twentydinars (of gold coin), in the same way as it has to be paid on twohundred dirhams (of silver)."

Malik said, "There is no zakatto 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 fulltwenty dinars in weight then zakat has to be paid. Similarly, there isno zakat to pay on (silver) that is clearly less than two hundreddirhams (in weight), but if it increases so that by the increase theamount reaches a full two hundred dirhams in weight then zakat has tobe paid. If it passes the full weight then I think there is zakat topay, whether it be dinars or dirhams." (i.e. the zakat is assessed bythe weight and not the number of the coins.)

Malik said,about a man who had one hundred and sixty dirhams by weight, and theexchange rate in his town was eight dirhams to a dinar, that he didnot have to pay any zakat. Zakat had only to be paid on twenty dinarsof gold or two hundred dirhams.

Malik said, in the case of aman who acquired five dinars from a transaction or in some other waywhich he then invested in trade, that, as soon as it increased to azakatable 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 dayafter the passing of a year. There was then no zakat to pay on it fromthe 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 tendinars which he invested in trade and which reached twenty dinars bythe time one year had elapsed over them, that he paid zakat on themright then and did not wait until a year had elapsed over them,(counting) from the day when they actually reached the zakatableamount. This was because a year had elapsed over the original dinarsand there were now twenty of them in his possession. After that therewas no zakat to pay on them from the day the zakat was paid untilanother year had elapsed over them.

Malik said, "What we areagreed upon (here in Madina) regarding income from hiring out slaves,rent from property, and the sums received when a slave buys hisfreedom, 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 elapsedover it from the day when the owner takes possession of it."

Malik said, in the case of gold and silver which was shared betweentwo co-owners, that zakat was due from any one whose share reachedtwenty dinars of gold, or two hundred dirhams of silver, and that nozakat was due from anyone whose share fell short of this zakatableamount. If all the shares reached the zakatable amount and the shareswere not equally divided, zakat was taken from each man according tothe measure of his share. This applied only when the share of each manamong them reached the zakatable amount, because the Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had said, "There is nozakat to pay on less than five awaq of silver."

Malikcommented, "This is what I prefer most out of what I have heard aboutthe matter."

Malik said, "When a man has gold and silverdispersed among various people he must add it all up together and thentake out the zakat due on the total sum ."

Malik said, "Nozakat is due from some one who acquires gold or silver until a yearhas elapsed over his acquisition from the day it became his."

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

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umarused to adorn his daughters and slave-girls with gold jewellery and hedid not take any zakat from their jewellery.

Malik said,"Anyone who has unminted gold or silver, or gold and silver jewellerywhich is not used for wearing, must pay zakat on it every year. It isweighed and one-fortieth is taken, unless it falls short of twentydinars of gold or two hundred dirhams of silver, in which case thereis no zakat to pay. Zakat is paid only when jewellery is kept forpurposes other than wearing. Bits of gold and silver or brokenjewellery which the owner intends to mend to wear are in the sameposition as goods which are worn by their owner - no zakat has to bepaid 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 ibnal-Khattab said, "Trade with the property of orphans and then it willnot be eaten away by zakat."

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

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

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said bought someproperty on behalf of his brother's sons who were orphans in hishouse, and that that property was sold afterwards for a great deal ofprofit.

Malik said, "There is no harm in using the propertyof orphans to trade with on their behalf if the one in charge of themhas permission. Furthermore, I do not think that he is under anyliability."

Yahya related to me that Malik said, "I consider that if a mandies and he has not paid zakat on his property, then zakat is takenfrom the third of his property (from which he can make bequests), andthe third is not exceeded and the zakat is given priority overbequests. In my opinion it is the same as if he had a debt, which iswhy I think it should be given priority over bequests."

Malikcontinued, "This applies if the deceased has asked for the zakat to bededucted. If the deceased has not asked for it to be deducted but hisfamily do so then that is good, but it is not binding upon them ifthey do not do it."

Malik continued, "The sunna which we areall agreed upon is that zakat is not due from someone who inherits adebt (i.e. wealth that was owed to the deceased), or goods, or ahouse, or a male or female slave, until a year has elapsed over theprice realised from whatever he sells (i.e. slaves or a house, whichare not zakatable) or over the wealth he inherits, from the day hesold the things, or took possession of them."

Malik said,"The sunna with us is that zakat does not have to be paid on wealththat is inherited until a year has elapsed over it."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from as-Sa'ib ibnYazid that Uthman ibn Affan used to say, "This is the month for you topay your zakat. If you have any debts then pay them off so that youcan sort out your wealth and take the zakat from it."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ayyub ibn Abi Tamima as-Sakhtayani that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, when writing about wealth thatone of his governors had collected unjustly, ordered it to be returnedto its owner and zakat to be taken from it for the years that hadpassed. Then shortly afterwards he revised his order with a messagethat zakat should only be taken from it once, since it was not wealthin hand.