If it is said: What is the answer to the evidence cited by those who hold that zakah on jewelry is not obligatory—namely, what al-Athram related, saying: I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal say, “Five Companions held that no zakah was due on jewelry: Anas ibn Malik, Jabir, Ibn Umar, Aishah, and Asma”?

The answer is that obligation has also been narrated from some of them. Even if we assume that all of them held a single view, or that their final position was that it was not obligatory, other Companions differed from them. When there is disagreement, it is obligatory to refer back to the Quran and the sunnah; and both contain evidence indicating that it is obligatory, as has preceded.

If it is said: It is established in the two Sahihs that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Give charity, O company of women, even from your jewelry.” (1) This proves that zakah is not obligatory on jewelry; for had it been obligatory on jewelry, the Prophet would not have made it an example of voluntary charity.

The answer to this is that the command to give charity from jewelry neither establishes that zakah is obligatory upon it nor negates it; rather, it is simply a command to give charity.