that he is to appraise his merchandise every lunar year and pay its zakat, whether any ready cash (ʿayn) has actually accrued to him or not. Ibn Ḥabīb adds that this follows the plain sense of ʿUmar’s ruling in the case of Ḥamās, although Ibn al-Mājishūn rejected the report transmitted on the point by Ibn al-Qāsim.

Ibn Nāfiʿ and Ashhab stated that if, at the close of the year, cash equal to the nisab has come into his hands, he must then value all of the trading goods he possesses; but if his cash on hand does not reach the nisab at that time, he need not value anything until the nisab is reached.

Whatever was purchased for trade and was later diverted to personal use and possession ceases to be liable for zakat and reverts to its original, non-trade status. Likewise, someone who buys a commodity for trade but is not a mudir, and whose goods subsequently stagnate so that he holds no ready cash, is not obliged to pay zakat on them. Even if he keeps those goods for years in that state, no zakat is due until he sells them, after which he pays zakat for one year only.

According to Mālik, there is a difference between merchandise that is being constantly turned over (mudāra) and merchandise that is not. Although zakat ultimately applies to both, the actively circulated stock is appraised and its zakat paid every year, whereas the non-circulated stock is appraised only after it is sold, and then for a single year.

A group of scholars from Medina and elsewhere maintained that the mudir and the ordinary trader are alike: every merchant must value his stock each year and pay zakat on it, whether his merchandise has appreciated or not, provided he bought it with the intention of trade. This view is sound and more cautious, for cash—gold and silver—yields no growth except through