and thus does not reach the nisab. Accordingly, no zakah is due on him according to the established position.

As for those who say that value is what matters, they combine the gold with the silver and thereby complete the nisab, because the value of one-third of a gold nisab equals one hundred dirhams. He would then possess two hundred dirhams and must pay zakah on them.

Another example: if he possesses ten dinars and one hundred dirhams, they are combined according to the established position. But if he possesses eight dinars, worth one hundred dirhams, along with one hundred dirhams, then according to the established position they are not combined.

The correct of these two views is that they are combined by fractional proportions, not by value.

Excluded from this issue are the assets of moneychangers: gold is combined with silver in their case, not because one genus is being combined with another, but because both are intended for trade and are therefore trade goods.

The Value of Trade Goods Is Added to Either of Them

His statement: “The value of trade goods is added to either of them.”

Trade goods are everything prepared for trade, without being restricted to any particular type of property, such as clothing and real estate when intended for trade. Their value is added to gold or silver in order to complete the nisab. Thus, if a person possesses one hundred dirhams of silver and trade goods worth one hundred dirhams, zakah is due on the silver and the trade goods.

If it is said: He possesses neither a nisab of silver nor a nisab in trade goods,

we say: What is intended in the case of trade goods is their value, and deeds are judged by intentions. The owner of trade goods does not seek the goods themselves, for he may buy them today and sell them tomorrow.

But by which value are trade goods to be assessed: that of gold or that of silver?