Section

For thirty head of cattle, a one-year-old bull or heifer is due; for forty, a two-year-old cow is due. Thereafter, for every thirty, a one-year-old bull is due, and for every forty, a two-year-old cow. A male animal suffices here, as does a ibn labun in place of a bint makhad, when the entire nisab consists of males.

His statement, “Section,” means: on the zakat of cattle.

Regarding the zakat of cattle, we say the same as we said regarding the zakat of camels: namely, that the four preceding categories encompass camels, cattle, and sheep.

Cattle are called baqar because they break up the ground through ploughing—that is, they split it open.

His statement, “For thirty head of cattle, a one-year-old bull or heifer is due,” means a male one-year-old or a female one-year-old; each of them is one year old. For fewer than thirty, nothing is due.

The difference between camels and cattle in the chapter of zakat is considerable: the nisab for camels begins at five, whereas that for cattle begins at thirty, even though they are alike with respect to sacrificial animals. But the Sacred Law takes precedence over reason, and what is obligatory is to follow what the Sacred Law has brought.

His statement, “For forty, a two-year-old cow is due” (1): a two-year-old cow is a female that has completed two years.