And his wording in this hadith,

“Concerning grazing sheep and goats,”

is a point of disagreement among the scholars, since grazing animals are those that feed on pasture. Mālik’s position is that working camels, working cattle, and fodder-fed rams are subject to zakat.

Abū Umar said: “This is also the view of al-Layth, and I know of no one other than these two who held it.”

As for al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, Abū Hanīfa, al-Thawrī, al-Awzā‘ī and others, they held that no zakat is due on such animals. This was also reported from a number of the Companions: Alī, Jābir and Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal. Umar ibn Abd al-Azīz issued written instructions to this effect.

In the hadith narrated by Bahz ibn Hakīm, from his father, from his grandfather, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is reported to have said:

“For grazing camels, one two-year-old she-camel is due for every forty.”

He thus restricted the ruling to grazing animals. Unqualified wording is understood in light of qualified wording when both concern the same category, without disagreement. The same applies to the hadith of Abū Bakr concerning grazing sheep and goats.

As for his words,

“If the zakat due on a man’s camels is a four-year-old she-camel, but he has none,”

and the remainder of the passage, Mālik did not adopt this ruling. Rather, he said that if an animal of the required age—whether a four-year-old she-camel or otherwise—is unavailable, he must purchase one: “I do not favor his paying its price instead.” He also said: “If the animal of the age due as zakat on the livestock is unavailable, the collector shall take neither an older nor a younger animal, nor accept additional dirhams. The owner must purchase for him an animal of the required age.”

Al-Thawrī, al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad adopted the ruling given in the hadith: that if he does not