Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—and all his followers is that zakat is due on it, by analogy with crops that grow from the earth. Gold and silver are extracted from the earth just as crops grow from it, and their extraction requires work, just as cultivation does. The minimum threshold is therefore taken into account, but the passage of a year is not required, just as it is not required for crops. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“Eat of its fruit when it yields and give its due on the day of its harvest.” [al-Anʿām: 141]

An exception is made when a nugget of pure metal is found: one-fifth is then due on it, according to Mālik’s position in al-Mudawwana. There is, however, disagreement on this matter.

Section

When the mine owner obtains from its yield the weight of twenty dinars or two hundred dirhams, zakat becomes due on that amount. Any additional yield is then subject to zakat proportionately, as long as production continues and the vein is not exhausted. This applies whether he retains what he has obtained until the minimum threshold is reached or spends it beforehand. His case follows the ruling of a man who is owed a debt on which a year has elapsed and then collects it in successive instalments.

If what he has obtained is lost through no fault of his own, the disagreement concerning the loss of amounts collected from a debt applies: Ibn al-Mawwāz said that he is not liable for its zakat, whereas Ibn al-Qāsim said that he is. In my view, this disagreement applies only if the loss occurs at a stage when he would not be held liable were the property to be lost after the completion of a year.

If, however, production ceases because the vein is exhausted, and he then finds another vein in the same mine, the minimum threshold must be assessed afresh for its yield. This case requires further distinction: what he obtained from the first yield must either be lost before the second begins, be lost after the second begins, or remain in his possession until the second yield brings the combined amount up to the minimum threshold.

Section

If it is lost before the second yield begins, there is no disagreement that no zakat is due on what he obtains from the second until that yield alone reaches the full minimum threshold, for his case, by analogy, is