Other scholars said: If a bint makhad suffices for twenty-five camels, then it is even more fitting that it should suffice for a number below that. The Sacred Law does not differentiate between two like cases. The Lawgiver waived the camel obligation for fewer than twenty-five camels as a concession to the owner, not because such an offering would be defective.

This is the correct view, for everyone knows that the perfect Sacred Law, founded upon textual and rational evidence, cannot say: Whoever owns twenty-five camels and gives a bint makhad has fulfilled his obligation, while whoever owns twenty camels and gives a bint makhad has not fulfilled it!

Likewise, a bint labun, or an animal older than it, also suffices.

“For thirty-six camels, one bint labun is due; for forty-six, one hiqqah; for sixty-one, one jadha'ah; for seventy-six, two bint labuns; and for ninety-one, two hiqqahs . . .”

His statement, “For thirty-six camels, one bint labun is due”: A bint labun is a female camel that has completed two years. It is called a bint labun because, in most cases, its mother has given birth and is therefore lactating.

The waqs is the interval between two prescribed zakah thresholds, for which nothing is due. Thus, between twenty-five and thirty-six there are ten camels for which nothing is due, as a concession to the owner.

As for gold and silver, if they increase even by one qirat, the zakah increases. Likewise, if grains and fruits increase, the zakah increases—unlike livestock, since they require considerable expense for grazing, milking, watering, and so forth. The Lawgiver therefore established these waqs intervals, for which no zakah is due.

His statement, “For forty-six camels, one hiqqah is due”: A hiqqah is a female camel that has completed three years. It is called a hiqqah because it can bear a male camel,