Chapter: Zakāt on Intermixed Flocks (Co-owners)

It is not permissible for the zakāt collector to pool together the sheep of people who are not partners in order to raise the amount of alms due, nor is it permissible for the owners to combine their separate flocks when the collector arrives so as to lessen what they must pay. Likewise, the collector may not split up the sheep of partners so as to increase the assessment, nor may the owners separate them when the collector appears in order to reduce it.

Intermixing (khuṭṭa) means that each owner’s animals are known and distinguishable, yet the flocks share the same grazing land, breeding ram, watering place and bucket, shepherd, and nighttime enclosure. When this is the case, they are assessed together and pay zakāt as though they were a single owner—provided that each individual owner possesses the minimum taxable amount (nisāb) of livestock and a full lunar year (ḥawl) has elapsed for him. If even one of them lacks a nisāb, no zakāt is due on the group. According to Mālik, it makes no difference whether their intermixing began at the start, the middle, or the end of the year; if the collector finds them intermixed, he levies zakāt on them as on a single owner.

The attributes that establish the ruling of intermixing are six: sharing the same shepherd, daytime pasture, breeding ram, nighttime enclosure, overnighting together, and watering place (i.e., the same bucket). Possessing any two of these attributes or more is the minimum that renders two owners partners for zakāt purposes.