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Zakat on Livestock

Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“Take from their wealth charity by which you purify them and cause them to grow.” [al-Tawba: 103]

The scholars unanimously agree that livestock—camels, cattle, sheep and goats—are among the assets on which zakat is due on the animals themselves. They differ, however, over whether this applies to all such animals or only to those that graze. Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—held that zakat is due on all of them, whether they graze or not. This differs from the position of al-Shāfi‘ī and Abū Hanīfa—may Allah Most High have mercy on them both—who held that zakat is not due on livestock that do not graze.

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According to Mālik and all his followers, zakat is not due on any animals other than camels, cattle, sheep and goats. This differs from the position of the Iraqi scholars, who held that zakat is due on grazing horses when males and females are kept together for breeding. The evidence supporting Mālik’s position is the general wording of the Prophet’s saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“A Muslim owes no zakat on his slave or his horse.”

It is also reported that he said, blessings and peace be upon him:

“I have exempted you from zakat on horses and slaves.”

The reasoning and analogy supporting this position are as follows: the scholars unanimously agree that no zakat is due on mules and donkeys, even when they graze, and that zakat is due on camels, cattle, sheep and goats when they graze. Since they disagree about grazing horses, horses must be treated by analogy with mules and donkeys rather than with camels, cattle, sheep and goats, because they more closely resemble the former. Horses have solid hooves, as do mules and donkeys, and a solid-hoofed animal more closely resembles another solid-hoofed animal than one with padded feet or cloven hooves. Moreover, Allah, blessed and exalted be He, has grouped them together, making horses, mules and donkeys a single category, in His saying, Most High: