Thus, if I own twenty sheep and you own twenty sheep, we are liable for one sheep in zakah.

But if I own twenty separately and you own twenty separately, and they are not commingled, then no zakah is due, because there is no commingling. Zakah may become obligatory where it otherwise would not have been obligatory, and it may be waived where it otherwise would have been obligatory. The details of this will follow.

The scholars said: Commingling is of two types:

1. Commingling of the actual property.
2. Commingling of characteristics.

First: commingling of the actual property. This is where the property is jointly owned by two people.

An example is a man who dies leaving two sons and eighty sheep. The eighty sheep are jointly owned by the two as actual property: each son owns one half of the very sheep themselves.

This form of joint ownership may arise through inheritance, purchase, and other means.

Second: commingling of characteristics. This is where each person’s property remains distinct from the other’s, but they share certain matters, which we shall mention, if Allah wills.

For example, each of us has his own separate property: you own twenty sheep and I own twenty sheep, and then we combine them. If my twenty sheep die, you are not liable for them, because they are my share.

In commingling of the actual property, however, if half of them die, the loss is borne by us both, because they are jointly owned.

Commingling of characteristics involves shared matters: