Section

As for the property held by these Bedouins who plunder one another, if no specific owner can be identified, the person holding it must pay its zakat. If it belongs to him, its zakat is his responsibility. If it does not belong to him and its owner is unknown, he must give it all in charity. Thus, giving an amount equivalent to its zakat in charity is better than giving none of it. In either case, paying an amount equivalent to the zakat is better than not doing so.

When they plunder one another, if the plundering occurs between two identifiable groups, the amount each group has taken from the other is assessed. If the amounts are equal, their claims are settled against one another, and each group is left in possession of what it holds, even if the particular person from whom it was plundered cannot be identified.

This is like a case in which they fight in the manner of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, each side killing members of the other, and one side destroying some of the other’s property. Reciprocal redress must then be effected between the two groups: lives are set against lives, and property against property. If a balance remains due to either group from the other, it is to claim that balance.