What are the goods that are subjected to zakat? For which goods is zakat given?
a. The Zakat of Gold, Silver and Money
The nisab of gold is twenty misqal (85 grams) and the nisab of silver is two hundred dirham (595 grams). The nisab of money and exchanges is in accordance with the nisab of gold.[1] When money reaches the value of 85 grams of gold, it will be subjected to zakat.
The zakat ratio of gold, silver and money is one in forty, in other words it is % 2.5. After a person adds their fixed receivables (money owed to them) to their ready cash, exchange, gold or silver, and if all this amounts to a value worth more than 85 grams of gold and if a year has gone passed this, they will be required to give one in forty of their money to zakat.
All of these are subjected to zakat; ornaments, jewellery, ones that are found in the form of nuggets, gold or silver that are used as pots-pans and frames. In the case that gold and silver is mixed with eachother, whichever substance is found to be more prominent, that is what it will be based on.
The gold and silver jewellery (in reasonable amounts) that women wear for show are not subjected to zakat. Along with this, jewellery and ornaments that are collected with the purpose of exchanging them for money later down the track when financial difficulty is faced, are subjected to zakat.
When frames that are made from substances such as gold or silver reach the nisab amount, it will be required to give the zakat.
Zakat is not given from ornaments and jewellery, other than gold and silver, such as pearls, emeralds and rubies. However if these are used for trade, the zakat of these will need to be given.
There is no zakat for minerals that are not used for a need and are made from other minerals.
b. The Zakat of Trade Goods
In order for a good to be considered a trade good, two elements must be found together. Amal (the act of buying and selling) and intention (the purpose of making a profit). If one of these elements are not found, that good will not be considered a trade good.
Every type of good that is used with the purpose of making a profit through trade is subjected to zakat. It does not matter what type they are made from, once the value of a trade good reaches the nisab of gold, the zakat will need to be given.
Dealing with trade can be actualised in three ways:
1) Management: The person who practices trade in this way, does not wait to sell their goods, they are continuously engaged in buying and selling. Shopkeepers at the bazaar and shops take place in this group. These people specify any month of the year and make a count of all the goods of that month, they specify the value of the goods along with the gold and silver they have in their hands. After they take their debt out of this, if the value of this gold-silver and goods reaches the nisab amount, they will pay one in forty of it as zakat.
2) Profiteering: The person who practices trade in this way, holds the good they have bought in their hands until it reaches a high value, they do not keep buying and selling. If this person sells their good a year or a few years later, they will only have to pay a yearly zakat.
3) Qiraz (mudarabah): With this way of trading, what happens is one of the sides puts the goods out there, the other side buys and sells with these goods. These two sides give the zakat if they are responsible for giving zakat. If one of these sides is responsible for the zakat, detailed rulings can be found in regards to this topic in fiqh books.
c. The Zakat of animals
The animals that are subjected to zakat are camels, cattle and sheep.
It does not make a difference if these animals spend most of the year on the pasture, if they are fed with forage or if they are used for work in different jobs. For zakat to be fardh for these, it needs to reach the nisab amount, a year must go passed and the zakat officer must have come to collect the zakat.
Sheep and goats are added to one another. Water buffaloes are added to cows and calves. Non-Arab camels are added to Arab camels. All of the mothers and offspring are calculated. In these, the zakat is not collected from the best nor is it collected from the worst, it is collected from the mid-ranged ones. Offspring is not taken as zakat.
The offspring that are born within the year are added to their mothers.
The Zakat of Sheep and Goats:
There is no zakat for 0 – 39 sheep.
40 – 120 sheep 1 sheep,
121-200 sheep 2 sheep,
201-399 sheep 3 sheep,
There is a zakat of 4 sheep out of 400 sheep. After this, one sheep will be taken as zakat out of every one hundred sheep.
Two people who are partners in being the owner of a herd will give zakat in the way one person would. However, this will be effective if each one of the partners of the partnership are required to give zakat when they are on their own. If the nisab amount is reached when they both unite, then they will not have to give zakat. If one of the partners has reached the nisab amount and if the other has not reached the nisab amount, only the one who has reached the nisab amount will give the zakat for their share. In order for the partnership to be effective the shepherd of the herd, the animal kept for breeding, the bucket used to water the herd, the place where the herd rests and where they are put to lay down at night all must be the same.
It is obligatory for the sheep and goats that are given as zakat to be a year old. However, it is not required for them to be either male or female, each one of them may be given.
The Zakat of Cattle and Buffaloes:
There is no zakat between the count 0-29.
Male or female cattle that has reached two years of age for between the count of 30 – 39,
Female cattle that has reached four years of age for between the count of 40 – 59 (three years of age according to another view),
After this, for every thirty cows (cattle), one two year old cow will be given as zakat. And for every forty cows one four year old cow will be given as zakat.
The Zakat of Camels:
There is no zakat between 0 – 4 camels.
One sheep for between 5 – 9 camels,
Two sheep for between 10 – 14 camels,
Three sheeps for between 15 – 19 camels,
Four sheep for between 20 – 24 camels,
A two year old female camel for a camel count between 25 – 35, a three year old male camel if there is no female camel,
A three year old female camel for between 36 – 45 camels,
A four year old female camel for between 46 – 60 camels,
A five year old camel for between 61 – 75 camels,
Two female three year old camels for between 76 – 90 camels,
Two four year old female camels for between 91 – 120 camels,
Two four year old or three three year old female camels for between 121 – 129
camels,
Out of 130 camels, one four year old and two three year old female camels are given. After this a four year old female camel out of every fifty camels and one three year old female camel out of every forty camels is added.
d. The Zakat of Treasure (Rikazin) and Precious Metals
d-a. The Zakat of Treasure
Riqaz; is the treasure and goods that were buried underground by people in the time of the jahiliyya. The ruling for this changes according to the land it is found on. There are four types of land treasure is found on:
- a) If the treasure that is found on open land and which belongs to the jahiliyya is gold and silver, the person who finds it will pay one fifth of it to the state, the rest will belong to them. If something other than gold and silver is found, nothing whatsoever will need to be paid to the state.
- b) Treasure that is found on owned land belongs to the finder according to one view. According to another view this belongs to the land owner.
- c) Treasure that is found on land that was conquered through war will belong to who found it.
- d) Treasure that is found on land that was obtained through the way of peace will belong to the finder according to one view, according to another view it belongs to the people who made the peace agreement.
All of these are valid, so long as none of the treasure has any marks or symbols on it indicating that they belong to Muslims. If there is something like this, the treasure will be ruled as ‘’found goods’’.
d-b.The Zakat of Minerals
Minerals, are the gold and silver that are taken out from the ground through workmanship. This is separated into three:
- a) Minerals taken out of land that has no owner will belong to the state.
- b) Minerals taken out of land that belongs to a particular person will belong to that person.
- c) Minerals found on soil that was obtained through war or peace and minerals found on land that does not have an owner belong to the conquerors of that place according to one view. According to another view it will belong to the state.
When minerals reach the nisab amount, it will have one in forty zakat. When it does not reach the nisab amount there will be no zakat.
e. The Zakat of Products of the Soil (Ushr)
What is meant by products of the soil here is products that are“acquired as food and gathered / stored”, these are crops and fruit. The zakat will be fardh when the grains part the crops and when the fruit comes to an edible state. The giving of this zakat will be fardh during the harvesting time.
The nisab of products of the soil is five wasks, this makes up to approximately 750 kilograms. If the person was able to water their products without any difficulty such as if they watered using rain, river and flood water, they will give one tenth zakat. Outside of this, if they watered using watering devices, as in if expenses were made during the watering process, they will give one in twenty zakat.
These are the agricultural products in which their zakat must be given: Dates, grapes, wheat, barley, maize, rice, chickpeas, broad beans, lentils, vetch, peas, olives, sesame, safflower, horseradish seeds. There is no zakat for products that are outside of these.
f. The Zakat of Receivable Accounts (Money owed, received)
Receivable accounts are four kinds:
- a) Receivables that they will benefit from:
These receivable accounts are; inheritance, hiba, mahr, diyat, rent, fee, compensation for selling a good. There is no zakat for these if the person obtains these accounts but a year has not passed by yet.
- b) Trade receivables:
The ruling of these is like the ruling of trade goods. The person who is carrying out the trade will determine the value of these goods. For those who work outside of the management trade, after obtaining this trade receivables, they will pay their yearly zakats.
- c) Salaf receivables:
Those who engage in trade outside of the management trade, will pay a yearly zakat after they obtain this receivable. There are different opinions concerning the topic of the person dealing in management trade specifying this value.
- d) Usurpation receivables:
When the person obtains this they will pay the yearly zakat.
If a person reaches the nisab amount after they have obtained their receivables, they will have to pay the zakat for this. They will have to pay the zakat for the amount they obtain later on, whether it be little or great. However if they obtain less than the nisab amount, zakat will not be fardh for them.
[1] In our day, when the nisab of money is being calculated, the nisab of gold is taken into account. However there are alims who think that it is in accordance with taqwa to take into account the nisab which is more in the favor of poor people.
Source: Fiqh1 (According To The Maliki School Of Islamic Law), Erkam Publications
