513 – Samurah ibn Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to command us to give ṣadaqah from whatever we set aside for sale.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd, and its isnād is lenient (1).

— Status of the ḥadīth —
• The report is ḥasan.
• Abū Dāwūd transmitted it with a lenient chain because it passes through Sulaymān ibn Samurah, an unknown narrator.
• Al-Talikhiṣ notes: Abū Dāwūd, al-Dāraquṭnī and al-Bazzār all narrated it through Sulaymān ibn Samurah from his father, and there is anonymity in the chain.
• Al-Dhahabī said: “This isnād is obscure and cannot sustain a ruling.”
• Even so, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr graded it sound, and ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī said: “Its isnād is ḥasan and singular.”

— Points derived from the ḥadīth —

1. Zakah is obligatory on whatever is prepared for sale, that is, commercial merchandise. The general evidence lies in Allah’s words: “Take from their wealth a charity” (al-Tawbah 9:103) and “and in their wealth there is a known right” (al-Maʿārij 70:24). Trade capital is the broadest form of wealth and therefore most deserving of inclusion. The explicit text is the present ḥadīth: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to command us to pay zakah on what we prepare for sale.” In the report, “He had mortgaged his coats of mail and riding gear,” al-Nawawī commented that this indicates the obligation of zakah on trade goods.
2. Ibn al-Munḏir, al-Wazīr and others have stated: the scholars are unanimously agreed that merchandise is subject to zakah.