Chapter: Zakat on Livestock

Know that among the types of wealth for which Allah has prescribed zakat are livestock animals—namely camels, cattle, and sheep. In fact, they stand at the forefront of zakatable assets. Numerous authentic traditions from the Prophet ﷺ attest to the obligation of zakat on them, and his written directives on the matter—as well as the letters of his caliphs—are well known. These documents detail the prescribed shares and recount how zakat collectors were dispatched to the Arab tribes around Madinah and across the expanding Islamic domain to gather it.

Accordingly, zakat becomes due on camels, cattle, and sheep when two conditions are met:

1. They are kept for milk and breeding, not for labor. In that case their benefits multiply, their growth through age and offspring is wholesome, and they therefore warrant charitable contribution.

2. They are sa’imah (free-grazing). The proof is the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “For every forty grazing camels, a bint labun (two-year-old she-camel) is due,” narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and al-Nasa’i.