16
Chapter on the Zakat of Trade Goods
4 This refers to anything kept for buying and selling with the aim of profit. Such goods are assessed when a full lunar year5 has passed over them, the year being counted from the moment6 their value first reaches the nisab, according to whichever standard is more beneficial to the poor7—gold or8 silver. If the value does reach the nisab, one-quarter of one-tenth is due; otherwise, no zakat is required.
(4) In manuscript “A” the reading is “huwa.”
(5) Manuscripts “N” and “M” add the word “alayha.”
(6) Manuscript “A” reads “balaghat.”
(7) The marginalia to al-Tanqih, p. 133, state: “The phrase bi-al-ahaz li-al-masakin (what is most advantageous for the needy) is not restrictive; some render it li-al-fuqara (for the poor) as in al-Furu.” Ibn Nasr Allah comments in his gloss on al-Furu: “Mentioning only the poor here is not meant to exclude the other recipients; one must consider what is most beneficial for all the zakat categories. The poor are cited merely by way of example because they resemble the others. This is apparently what the jurists intended; had they said ‘what is most advantageous for the zakat recipients,’ the wording would have been clearer.”
(8) In manuscript “A” the conjunction appears as “wa” instead of “aw.”
باب زكاة العروض
وهي٤: ما يعد للبيع والشراء لأجل الربح فتقوم إذا حال الحول٥ عليها وأوله من حين بلوغ٦ القيمة نصابا بالأحظ للمساكين٧ من ذهب أو٨ فضة فإن بلغت القيمة نصابا وجب ربع العشر وإلا فلا,
٤ في "أ" "هو".
٥ في "ن", "م" زيادة: "عليها.
٦ في "أ" "بلغت".
٧ في حاشية التنقيح "ص: ١٣٣" قوله: "بالأحظ للمساكين لا مفهوم له وبعضهم يقولون: للفقراء كما في الفروع", وقال ابن نصر الله في حاشية على الفروع: "تخصيص الفقراء بالذكر هنا لا مفهوم له, فاعتبر بالأحظ لأصناف الزكاة كلها, وإنما ذكر الفقراء اكتفاء, لأنهم مثلهم, وهذا هو الظاهر من مرادهم, ولو قال بالأحظ لأهل الزكاة لكان أجود".
٨ في "أ" بالواو, بدل "أو".