for you.” Ḥanbal said: “I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: ‘Whichever of the two he gives it to, it suffices for him, provided he pays it properly, if Allah wills.’” Mālik held the same view. Al-Shāfiʿī said: “It does not suffice for them; rather, they must pay it themselves to those entitled to receive it.” The evidence for our position is the report narrated by Abū Ḥafṣ through his chain of transmission from Sahl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, from his father, who said: “Some wealth accumulated in my possession, and I wanted to pay its zakat. I met Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ and said, ‘Abū Isḥāq, some wealth has accumulated in my possession, and I wish to pay its zakat. What do you say about what these people are doing with the zakat?’ He said, ‘Pay it to them.’ Then I met Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī and said the same to him. He replied, ‘Pay it to them.’ Then I met Abū Hurayrah and said the same to him. He replied, ‘Pay it to them.’ Then I met Ibn ʿUmar and said the same to him. He replied, ‘Pay it to them.’”
Through his chain of transmission from Nāfiʿ, it is narrated that the Anṣār asked Ibn ʿUmar about the zakat. He said, “Give it to the officials.” They said, “The people of Syria prevail at one time, and these others prevail at another.” He replied, “Give it to whoever prevails.”
If a zakat official acknowledges having received the zakat from those liable to pay it, his statement is accepted during his tenure, whether he is one of the officials vested with delegated authority or one of the executive officials. His statement is also accepted after his dismissal, on the basis of two principles. The first is that paying the zakat to him is recommended, but not obligatory. The second is that if a judge is dismissed and says, “During my tenure, I had issued a judgment in favor of so-and-so,” his statement is accepted.
If the owner of the wealth claims to have paid its zakat, his statement is accepted even if the official came to him only after the payment could have been made, and even in the official’s presence, on the basis of the principle that paying it to him is recommended, but not obligatory. The owner of the wealth is not required to swear to this.
The apparent import of Aḥmad’s words is that paying it to the official is neither obligatory nor recommended. In the narration of Ibn Manṣūr, when he was asked, “Are people made to swear regarding their zakat, or is whatever they bring from it simply taken from them?” he replied: “Whatever they bring is taken from them, and they are not made to swear.”
In the narration of Ḥanbal, he said: “The zakat collector does not ask about anything or investigate. He merely takes whatever he finds, and whatever he finds gathered together, provided it is of the kind on which zakat is due.”