an amount reaching the zakat threshold and then, after some time, acquires another such amount, the lunar year is reckoned separately for each. Profits are combined with the principal, and zakat on them is paid when the principal’s lunar year ends, provided that the principal itself reaches the threshold, according to the majority. If the principal is below the threshold but, together with its profits, reaches it at the end of the lunar year, zakat is due according to Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him. If someone owns merchandise for trade and then acquires enough to complete the threshold, he must pay zakat.

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Zakat is due on merchandise held for trade. Ibn al-Mundhir said:

“The scholars unanimously agree that zakat is due on merchandise intended for trade once a lunar year has passed over it.”

This has been reported from ʿUmar, his son and Ibn ʿAbbās. It is also the position of the seven jurists, al-Hasan, Jābir ibn Zayd, Maymūn ibn Mihrān, Tāwūs, al-Nakhaʿī, al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, Abū Hanīfah, Ahmad, Ishāq and Abū ʿUbayd. It has been related from Mālik and Dāwūd that no zakat is due on it.

In Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Samurah said:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to instruct us to pay zakat on what we prepared for sale.”

It is reported that Himās said:

“ʿUmar passed by me and said, ‘Pay zakat on your wealth.’ I replied, ‘All I have is quivers and hides.’ He said, ‘Assess their value, then pay zakat on them.’”

This account became widely known without anyone objecting, so it constitutes a consensus.