the scales. Ibn Habīb held that zakat is due on two hundred dirhams according to the weight standard used among us in our time. He said that the people of each land should pay zakat according to their current local weight standard, even if it falls below the al-kayl standard. This is a far-fetched view.
Section
There is disagreement concerning dirhams or gold alloyed with copper. One opinion is that zakat is not due unless the pure gold or silver reaches the minimum threshold. Another is that, if gold or silver predominates, it determines the ruling: the copper is disregarded, and zakat is due on the alloy. The first opinion is sounder, if Allah Most High wills.
The threshold for camels is five, for sheep and goats forty, and for cattle thirty.
The threshold for storable foodstuffs liable to zakat is five wasqs, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stated. A wasq is sixty sāʿs measured by the Prophet’s sāʿ (peace and blessings be upon him), and a sāʿ is four mudds measured by his mudd (peace and blessings be upon him). A mudd weighs one and one-third ratls—according to one opinion, measured in water, and according to another, in medium-grade wheat. This is the mudd currently used among us. Thus, our mudd is the Prophet’s mudd, our measure is his sāʿ, and our qafīz is twelve sāʿs. Accordingly, a wasq in our measure is five qafīz, and the threshold is twenty-five qafīz. [Ibn Habīb said that the threshold according to the Cordoban measure is thirty qafīz.] This assumes that each qafīz contains ten sāʿs, equivalent to forty of the Prophet’s mudds (peace and blessings be upon him). On this reckoning, our measure contains three and one-third of the Prophet’s mudds (peace and blessings be upon him), a sāʿ is five of our mudds less one-fifth of a mudd, and a wasq is six qafīz. This is his statement in the Book of Zakat.
In the Book of Marriage, in the chapter on maintenance for wives, he stated that the Cordoban qafīz is forty-four mudds. On this reckoning, the threshold is twenty-seven qafīz and three-elevenths of a qafīz. Our measure would contain three and two-thirds of the Prophet’s mudds (peace and blessings be upon him), and a qafīz would contain eleven sāʿs. A sāʿ would equal four of our mudds and four-elevenths of a mudd, while a wasq in our measure would be five qafīz and five-elevenths of a qafīz.