Chapter on the Separation of Property, Its Exchange, and Related Matters

When a man owns livestock in one town and additional livestock in another, he must combine the two herds when calculating zakat. The same principle applies to crops, fruits, gold, silver, and every type of wealth on which zakat is obligatory: each asset is added to its own kind for assessment.

If someone possesses the nisab —the minimum taxable amount—of gold or silver, and part of a zakat year has already passed while it is in his hands, then he uses that sum to purchase a full nisab of livestock, he must begin a new zakat year for the livestock starting from the date of purchase.

Some scholars have said that he should link the livestock to the year already counted for the cash. The identical two opinions apply if a person has held a nisab of livestock for part of a year and then sells it for an equivalent nisab of gold or silver. My preference is that, in both situations, he should not build on the previous year but should start a fresh one, because the category of property has changed and the legal obligation differs.

Continuing the original year is permissible only when the exchange takes place between identical kinds that are combined for zakat—such as sheep and goats—for no type of livestock is added to a different type. Thus, if he sells a nisab of livestock that he has kept