Question: I bought a number of camels for myself and my brothers. From the day we purchased them they have stayed in a private pen and never leave it; we bring them barley and similar fodder. After the first lunar year had passed we paid their zakat. In the second year we were told that no zakat is due on them so long as their feed is brought to them and they do not graze for themselves. Is that correct, and what must we do in the future?

Answer: The matter needs some detail. If your purpose in acquiring these camels was trade, then zakat is due on them because they are regarded as ʿurūd al-tijārah (trade goods). Zakat is paid on their value: at the completion of each lunar year you appraise them at their current market price and pay one quarter of one tenth (2.5 %) of that value. This is zakat on their value, not on their headcount.

If, however, you purchased them for breeding, benefiting from them, and drinking their milk, then no zakat is due on them so long as you are hand-feeding them for most of the year. Should they pasture on open rangeland for the greater part of the year, zakat becomes obligatory.

Zakat is payable once they reach the nisab; the lowest nisab is five head, for which the due zakat is one sheep.

Question: He says, “I bought them for myself and my brothers.” Does that not make the wealth jointly owned among them?

Answer: If the animals are grazing livestock (sa’ima), zakat remains obligatory on them while they are commingled; their pooling makes them as one property, even though they belong to several people.