—a point on which the four Imams are unanimously agreed, for Ibn Mājah narrates—on the authority of ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿUmar, in a report traced back to the Prophet—that “he would take half a mithqāl from every twenty mithqāls.” Al-Nawawī remarked, “Consensus is the decisive proof in this matter; no sound hadith fixes the nisāb, yet every scholar whose opinion carries weight is in agreement.” Shaykh al-Islam likewise said, “Anything short of twenty mithqāls is exempt from zakah by consensus.”
15 – Concerning his words, “If it is only one hundred and ninety,” someone might suppose that once the sum increases by any amount before reaching two hundred, charity becomes due. That is not the case; the obligation is not incurred until the full two hundred dirhams are reached. The figure of “ninety” is mentioned merely because it is the last subdivision of that hundred, and when numbers are reckoned beyond one hundred in tens, hundreds, and thousands, citing “ninety” indicates that nothing less than the complete two hundred is liable.
16 – His statement, “A decrepit animal is not to be taken in charity …,” shows that the ruler should equip the collectors with sound legal knowledge, or send with them students of sacred learning to instruct them in the rulings of zakah, so that their work is carried out with clear insight.
17 – The rule of compensation (al-jubrān) in the zakah of camels—whereby the owner pays twenty dirhams if a jadhʿah (a five-year-old she-camel) is due but he offers a ḥiqqah (four-year-old), or he gives a jadhʿah when only a ḥiqqah is required and then receives twenty dirhams back from the collector—demonstrates the permissibility of paying the monetary value of zakah when need calls for it. This is the most equitable of the three opinions and was the view preferred by Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyyah.
18 – The Prophet’s words, “What is dispersed must not be combined, nor what is together separated, in order to avoid charity,” provide evidence for the prohibition of legal stratagems that nullify an obligation or involve a forbidden act. The Prophet ﷺ said, “May Allah curse the Jews! When Allah forbade them the fat of animals, they melted it, sold it, and consumed its price.” Imam Aḥmad declared, “No stratagem that voids the right of a Muslim is permissible.” Ibn al-Qayyim added, “Whoever is versed in the transmitted reports, the principles of jurisprudence, and its issues will not doubt that …”