—namely, only that single sheep—until the flock reaches one hundred and twenty head. When it reaches one hundred and twenty-one, two sheep are due, and this remains the rate up to two hundred. At two hundred and one, three sheep must be given. Once the count surpasses that, one sheep is required for every additional hundred: thus three sheep for three hundred, four for four hundred, five for five hundred, and so on.
The jurists unanimously agree that sheep and goats are combined when calculating zakāt, for the ḥadīth mentions al-ghanam, a term that covers both. If the two kinds are present in equal numbers, the collector (sāʿī) may take from whichever he chooses, but he must take from each species what would be obligatory were it counted on its own. If one species predominates, the collector takes from that species.
The animal is handed over to the poor alive; a slaughtered one does not suffice. Any suckling born before the lunar year is complete, or before the zakāt is actually paid, is counted and then returned to the owner. A suckling itself is never taken; what is taken is a jadhʿah (yearling) or a thanīyah (two-year-old), for these represent the middle age and this is equitable.
The young are counted with their mothers whether or not the mothers alone reach the zakāt threshold (niṣāb). If the mothers die and only the young remain, zakāt is still due once the young constitute a niṣāb, yet none of them is taken; rather—according to Mālik—the owner must supply on their behalf an animal of the proper age, whether a thanīyah or a jadhʿah. Al-Mughīrah and Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, however, maintained that if the young reach forty, one of them is taken; likewise, if every animal in the flock is defective, one of them is taken and the owner is not required to substitute a sounder animal.
If the entire flock consists of choice stock—for example, it is all ribāb or all mānaf—the owner may offer an average animal unless he freely chooses to give one of the best. Conversely, if the whole flock is of inferior quality, the collector requires him to bring an average animal in its place, unless the collector deems it better for the recipients to take directly from the flock, in which case he may do so.
If it is the imam’s custom to dispatch collectors to take the zakāt of livestock, then the Sunnah in this matter is that