the prohibition of legal stratagems, their nullification, and their clash with the very spirit of the religion. This ḥadith is an unambiguous proof that any device devised to drop or diminish the zakah—by combining or dispersing holdings—is forbidden, as its various forms are well known.

His words, “What is dispersed must not be combined, nor what is together separated, for fear of the charity,” give rise to four scenarios:

1. The owner is forbidden to merge two separate herds, each of which is a full niṣāb, so as to count them as a single niṣāb and thereby lessen the zakah due.
2. The owner is forbidden to split a single niṣāb among distant locations in order to make the zakah fall away altogether.
3. The zakah collector is forbidden to divide the owner’s wealth so that multiple niṣābs appear and a larger amount becomes payable.
4. The collector is likewise forbidden to gather portions that are each short of a niṣāb, scattered in different places, and regard them as one niṣāb—just as some of these stratagems attempt when two commingled estates are alternately combined and divided.

19 – This shows that nothing is due between the two obligatory numbers, because what lies between them is called waqs (the untaxed increment), and it is excused. Waqs exists only in the livestock of the grazing animals; for money, trade goods, and agricultural produce, whatever exceeds the threshold is assessed proportionally for zakah.

20 – It also shows that one may not discharge zakah by paying its monetary value, whether or not there is a need or a benefit in doing so. On this point there is a difference of opinion. Shaykh al-Islam said that there are three views regarding payment in value:

1. That it is valid in every situation; this is the position of Abū Ḥanīfah.
2. That it is never valid, whether need exists or not; this is the position of Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī.
3. That it is valid only when there is a need; this is the explicit view narrated from Aḥmad, and it is the fairest of the three.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh said: It is not permissible to pay the value in