and sheep. Zakah is due on them, but only once they reach the nisab. The minimum nisab for camels is five, for cattle thirty, and for sheep forty. Livestock is unlike other kinds of property where, after the nisab is reached, one simply calculates a percentage; instead, its dues are set in graduated brackets. Thus for forty sheep one sheep is payable, and this single sheep remains due until the flock reaches one hundred and twenty-one, at which point two sheep are owed. The surplus between two brackets (al-waqs) carries no zakah: from forty up to and including one hundred and twenty, only one sheep is taken; from one hundred and twenty-one up to two hundred, two sheep; at two hundred and one, three sheep, and the liability stays at three sheep until three hundred and ninety-nine. At four hundred, four sheep are due.

The same scheme applies to camels. If the herd numbers twenty-four or fewer, its zakah is taken in sheep—one sheep for every five camels. Once the herd reaches twenty-five and above, the zakah is taken from the camels themselves, according to the specified age classes.

For zakah to be obligatory on livestock two conditions must be met: the animals must reach the nisab, and they must be sāʾimah—that is, they graze freely in the open rangeland and are not stall-fed, whether for the whole year or for most of it. Accordingly, if someone owns forty sheep that roam and graze all year, zakah is due; if they graze for eight months, zakah is still due, and likewise if they graze for seven months. But if they graze for six months and are fodder-fed for six months, no zakah is due; and if they are fodder-fed