The Prophet ﷺ clearly delineated the minimum thresholds for all these categories and specified the amount that must be paid: one tenth of what the land yields when it is irrigated without cost, one-half of one tenth when it is irrigated with expense, and one quarter of one tenth of commercial assets. For trade goods this becomes due once a full lunar year has passed over the capital, while for crops it is due at the time of harvesting and picking, exactly as the cited verse states.

Allah has instructed that zakah be taken from goods of average quality. The owner is not to be wronged by taking the very best of his property—unless he himself wishes to offer it—nor may he deliberately select the inferior, i.e. the defective part, and hand it over. If the payment is obligatory, doing so does not clear his liability; if it is a voluntary donation, it diminishes his reward.

Allah also explained the sound rationale behind this: just as you would not be pleased if someone indebted to you paid you with something inferior to what you are owed—accepting it only grudgingly and with reluctance—how, then, can you be satisfied to present to your Lord and to your fellow believers what you would never accept for yourselves? Such behavior is neither fair nor just.

Allah further clarified the wisdom and far-reaching benefits of zakah when He said, “that you may purify them and elevate them thereby” ⦗al-Tawbah 103⦘. This concise phrase gathers within it a multitude of advantages for the giver, the recipient, the wealth itself, and both public and private affairs.

His words “that You may purify them” mean: purify them from sins and from vile traits. Among the gravest sins is withholding zakah, while giving it is a means for other sins to be forgiven, for it counts among the greatest good deeds, and good deeds erase misdeeds. One of the most repugnant character flaws is miserliness, and zakah cleanses a person of this disgraceful trait, endowing the giver with mercy, benevolence, and compassion toward Allah’s creatures.