Book of Zakāt
Introduction
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Book of Zakāt
Section: Zakāt on Livestock

Zakāt is obligatory only on domesticated livestock: camels, cattle, and sheep/goats. It is not due on horses, slaves, or on animals produced from a cross between sheep and gazelles.

No zakāt is owed on camels until they reach five, at which point one sheep is due. At ten camels, two sheep are due; at fifteen, three sheep; at twenty, four; and at twenty-five, one bint makhāḍ (a one-year-old she-camel whose mother is pregnant). At thirty-six the due is a bint labūn (a two-year-old she-camel); at forty-six a ḥiqqah (a three-year-old she-camel); at sixty-one a jazʿah (a four-year-old she-camel); at seventy-six two banāt labūn (two two-year-old she-camels); at ninety-one two ḥiqqahs; and at one hundred and twenty-one three banāt labūn. After that, one bint labūn is taken for every forty camels and one ḥiqqah for every fifty.

A bint makhāḍ is one year old, a bint labūn two, a ḥiqqah three, and a jazʿah four. The sheep taken may be either a jadhaʿah of sheep (one year old, according to one opinion, or six months according to another) or a thaniyyah of goats (two years old). The sounder view is that the owner may choose between the two. He is not bound to give the most common breed in his region, and a male animal is acceptable. The same applies to the sheep taken in place of zakāt when the herd numbers fewer than twenty-five camels.

If the owner has no bint makhāḍ, an ibn labūn (a two-year-old male camel) may be taken. A defective animal is treated as nonexistent, and he is not obliged to hand over an exceptionally fine one. Nevertheless, according to the sounder opinion, an ibn labūn is not accepted, and the collector shall take