and is completely absorbed into the silver, the zakat remains due in full; no attention is paid to the foreign matter, for it is negligible and has no effect. However, if the non-silver component is a separable portion, zakat is not payable until the actual quantity of silver contained in the dirhams is first calculated, for in such a case they resemble gold or silver ornaments strung with gems or beads. Only the silver or gold itself is taken into account, not the substance mixed with it; the same principle is applied when fixing the minimum value that entails amputation for theft and when determining the amount of the bridal dower.

Blackened or white silver, inferior or superior grades of it, and likewise of gold, are all treated alike, just as low-quality and high-quality dates are treated alike. Whether the gold or silver is minted coin, bullion ingots, or unminted lumps, anyone who possesses the amount we have specified must pay one-quarter of one-tenth (2.5 %) once a full lunar year has elapsed. The same ruling applies to commercial jewelry that is not set with stones.

By contrast, fashioned ornaments kept solely for women’s adornment—bought with their own earnings or with the earnings of their guardians or husbands—and not intended for trade or for hire, are exempt from zakat. Some have said that if the jewelry belongs to a man it is subject to zakat, whereas if it belongs to a woman it is not. Scholars have likewise differed over jewelry rented out or produced merely as a device to avoid zakat and not for women’s adornment; according to Malik and the majority of his colleagues, such items are liable. The zakat on merchandise jewelry will be discussed later in the chapter on commercial zakat, God willing.

As for vessels made of gold or silver, acquiring them is discouraged, zakat on them remains obligatory, and one who hoards them is sinful; the same applies to the ornamentation of saddles.