extend to acts of disobedience. The sinner is told, “Repent”; and once he repents, the matter returns to what it was before.

Question: If jewelry is unlawful and zakah is due on it, is the determining factor its weight or its value?

Answer: The madhhab considers its weight, because its value is based on its being unlawful, and that which is unlawful may not be assigned a value in the Sacred Law. Thus, its weight is considered both for determining the nisab and for payment.

From this we learn that jewelry falls into three categories:

1. That for which weight is considered both for determining the nisab and for payment.
2. That for which value is considered both for determining the nisab and for payment.
3. That for which weight is considered in determining the nisab, while value is considered for payment.

The first category—where weight is considered both for determining the nisab and for payment—is unlawful jewelry. This also includes unlawful vessels made of gold and silver.

For example, a man possesses a gold cup weighing twenty mithqals. The value of twenty mithqals of gold is two thousand riyals; but when this gold is fashioned into a gold cup, its value becomes three thousand riyals. Should we consider its value or its weight?

Answer: We consider it according to the nisab of unworked gold, whose value is two thousand riyals. This is the position of the madhhab. They explain that this additional value is in exchange for an unlawful craftsmanship, and so it is of no account, because he is required to alter this