For this reason, his companions said: “This indicates that the beneficiary owns the endowed property itself.” They regarded this as one of the two positions reported from him.

Another view within his school holds that no zakat is due on the endowed property itself, because that ownership is incomplete. Al-Qādī adopted this view in al-Mujarrad, as did Ibn ʿAqīl. It is also the view of most of al-Shāfiʿī’s followers.

As for property endowed for a public purpose, such as jihad or support for the poor and needy, no zakat is due on it according to his school or that of al-Shāfiʿī. Mālik, however, holds that zakat is due on it. Ahmad therefore withheld judgment concerning funds endowed for horses and weapons, because the matter admits of uncertainty: horses and weapons may be assigned to particular people, whether the donor’s children or others, unlike a general endowment that does not subsequently become restricted to particular beneficiaries.

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In Bakr ibn Muhammad’s report, he said concerning someone who bequeathed a horse, a saddle, and a silver-mounted bridle to be held as a dedicated endowment in Allah’s cause:

“It should remain as he endowed and bequeathed it. But if the silver from the saddle and bridle is sold and the proceeds devoted to an endowment of the same kind, that is preferable to me, because the silver serves no useful purpose. Perhaps a saddle and bridle could be purchased with that silver, which would be more beneficial to the Muslims.”

He was asked: “May the silver be sold and the proceeds spent on maintaining the horse?” He replied: “No.”

This report is among those mentioned by al-Khallāl, his companion Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, al-Qādī, Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī, and others. Ahmad thus explicitly stated that the horse and silver-mounted bridle should remain as the donor endowed and bequeathed them, and that selling the silver from the saddle and bridle and devoting the proceeds to an endowment of the same kind was preferable to him.

He said: “Because the silver serves no useful purpose. Perhaps a saddle and bridle could be purchased with that silver, which would be more beneficial to the Muslims.” Thus, he allowed a choice between retaining the endowed ornamentation as an endowment and