If he acquires a nisab consisting of young animals, its zakah year begins when he acquires it. If the nisab falls below the minimum during part of the year, or if he sells it or exchanges it for something of a different kind—not as a means of evading zakah—the zakah year is interrupted. But if he exchanges it for something of the same kind, he continues counting the original year.

His statement, “If he acquires a nisab consisting of young animals, its zakah year begins when he acquires it,” refers to livestock. Thus, if one acquires a nisab of young animals, its zakah year begins from the time he acquires them, due to the general wording of the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “For every forty sheep, one sheep is due.” However, if these young animals are nourished solely on milk, then no zakah is due on them, because they are not grazing animals at present. One of the conditions for zakah to be obligatory on livestock is that they graze freely, whereas these young animals do not graze but are fed milk.

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, explicitly mentioned this issue because some scholars stipulate, for the zakah year to begin from the time one acquires a nisab of young animals, that the animals must have reached an age at which they are valid for payment as zakah. But the correct view is that stated by the author, on account of the general wording.

His statement, “If the nisab falls below the minimum during part of the year ... the zakah year is interrupted,” means that no zakah is due because the nisab has fallen below the minimum.

An example of this is a man who possesses 200 dirhams and, during the year, spends five dirhams of them on a purchase. No zakah is due on the remainder, because the nisab fell below the minimum before the year was complete.

His statement, “or if he sells it,” means that he sells the nisab. If he sells the nisab during the year, the zakah year is interrupted and no zakah is due. An exception to this is trade goods, as will come later.

For example, a man owns forty freely grazing sheep. Before the year is complete, he sells one sheep for dirhams. He is not a trader, but he finds that it has become burdensome for him in terms of feed, water, and pasture, so he sells it. The zakah year is then interrupted, and he begins a new zakah year for the dirhams, even if he sold it only a day or two before the year was complete.