and to that of bridles, inkwells, knives, mirrors, and anything similar, for zakāt is still due on all of these.

By contrast, no zakāt is payable on the ornamental gold or silver that decorates a Qur’an codex, a sword, or a signet-ring.

If swords, Qur’an codices, or rings are held as merchandise, two reports are related from Mālik:

1. No zakāt is due on them until they are sold; once sold, zakāt is taken on the sale price just like any other trade goods.
2. One pays zakāt each lunar year on the weight of the precious metal used in their decoration.

With blades, Qur’an codices, and gemstone settings one likewise waits until the item is sold and then pays zakāt on the proceeds—unless the items are part of stock that is continually turned over in trade. In that case, those engaged in the trade pay zakāt every year on the weight of the metal ornamentation together with the current value of the blade, the codex, and the gem. The same ruling applies to commercial jewelry that is set with beads or stones when removing them would damage the owner’s property.

We shall, God willing, devote a separate chapter to zakāt on trade commodities.

Gold or silver on which zakāt has not been paid is deemed a hoard; any wealth from which zakāt has been paid is not considered a hoard, whether buried or above ground. Allah—mighty and exalted—has said: “And those who hoard gold and silver…”; that threat alone should suffice you.

It is permissible to discharge the zakāt of gold with silver and the zakāt of silver with gold, reckoned at their exchange value at the time of payment. It is not acceptable, however, to offer five dirhams in place of half a dinar unless that is indeed its market value. In calculating, one must aggregate high-quality pieces with inferior ones of the same type, and gold is combined with silver for the purposes of zakāt. Mālik held that this combination is made according to proportional weight, not according to the prevailing exchange rate.

And the explanation