His statement, “one-fifth is due on it, whether little or much,” means that no minimum threshold is required, due to the general wording of the Prophet’s statement: “One-fifth is due on buried treasure.” (1)

The scholars then differed over this one-fifth: is it zakah or fay’ (public revenue)? This is based on their disagreement concerning the definite article in the Prophet’s wording, “the one-fifth”: does it indicate the genus, or does it refer to something already known?

Some scholars held that it is zakah, in which case the definite article indicates the genus.

The following consequences result from this view:

1. The zakah due on buried treasure is the highest rate required on zakatable wealth, because one-half of one-tenth, one-tenth, one-quarter of one-tenth, and one sheep for every forty are all less than one-fifth.

2. No minimum threshold is required; therefore, it is due on both small and large amounts.

3. It is not conditional upon being a particular type of wealth. Thus, one-fifth is due whether it consists of gold, silver, or other minerals, unlike the zakah due on other forms of wealth.

The position of our school—may Allah have mercy on its scholars—is that it is fay’. Accordingly, the definite article in “the one-fifth” refers mentally to something already known, rather than indicating the genus; that is, the one-fifth known in Islam: one-fifth of the one-fifth of war booty, which constitutes fay’ and is spent on the general public interests of the Muslims. This is the stronger view, because classifying it as zakah conflicts with the established principles of the chapter of zakah, as was explained above in the three preceding points.