al-Mawwฤz. As for livestock, according to his position in al-Mudawwana, if it is to be distributed among individually specified beneficiaries, each beneficiary whose share reaches the minimum threshold should pay zakat on it. This is expressly stated by Ashhab in the book of Ibn al-Mawwฤz: if it is to be distributed among the poor, no zakat is due on it; but if it is to be distributed among individually specified beneficiaries, each beneficiary whose share reaches the minimum threshold must pay zakat on it.
The same ruling must apply to dinars according to those who hold that someone who inherits dinars held elsewhere must pay zakat on them when a year has elapsed, even without having taken possession of them. The distinction between livestock and monetary wealth in the case of individually specified beneficiaries is that someone who is bequeathed monetary wealth reaching the minimum threshold, or acquires it by any other means, owes no zakat on it until a year has elapsed from the day of taking possession. Someone who is bequeathed livestock reaching the minimum threshold, however, must pay zakat on it when the year elapses, whether or not possession has been taken.
The book of Muhammad states that zakat is due on the livestock as a whole if it is to be distributed among beneficiaries who are not individually specified, and on the share of each beneficiary whose share reaches the minimum threshold if the beneficiaries are individually specified. According to this position, he thus regarded it as assessed for zakat as the property of its donor or the person who bequeathed it when the beneficiaries are not individually specified, and as the property of its recipients when they are individually specified. By analogy, the same must apply to dinars.
The book of Muhammad also contains a passage whose apparent meaning is that no zakat is due on the livestock even if it is to be distributed among individually specified beneficiaries, each of whose shares reaches the minimum threshold. This has no sound basis in legal reasoning, since there is no disagreement that someone who acquires livestock must pay zakat when the year elapses, even without having taken possession of it.
Section
Accordingly, there are three positions concerning livestock endowed for distribution. The first is that no zakat is due on it if it is to be distributed among beneficiaries who are not individually specified, whereas zakat is due on each beneficiaryโs share if they are individually specified. This is Ashhabโs express position in the book of Ibn al-Mawwฤz and the implication of what appears in al-Mudawwana. The second is that zakat is due on the livestock as a whole if the beneficiaries are not individually specified, and on each beneficiaryโs share if they are individually specified. This is Ibn al-Qฤsimโs position in the book of al-Mawwฤz. The third is that no zakat is due on it, whether or not the beneficiaries are individually specified. This is the least tenable of the positions, for the reasons we have mentioned.
These, then, are three positions overall. Examined in detail, however, there are two positions for each case: if the livestock is to be distributed among beneficiaries who are not individually specified, one position is that no zakat is due on it, and the other is that zakat is due on it as the endowerโs property