I have sixty head of sheep which I feed for six months with various types of feed. Is there any zakah due on them, and what is the amount?
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The questioner : I have sixty head of sheep which I feed for six months of the year with various types of feed, including straw, grass, and barley. Is there any zakah due on them or not? And if there is zakah due on them, what is the amount?
The Shaykh : For these sheep that you feed for half the year, there is no zakah due on you. This is because zakah on livestock is not obligatory unless they are grazing freely. Grazing freely means they graze on what Allah the Exalted has caused to grow on the earth for the entire year or more. As for what is fed for more than half the year or half the year, there is no zakah in it, unless you have been feeding them for trade, such that you are a trader who trades in these livestock, selling these and buying those. In that case, they have the ruling of zakah on merchandise. If this is your situation, meaning that you trade in them, selling and buying, and you are not keeping them for breeding, then you must pay their zakah by estimating their value each year and then paying out one-quarter of one-tenth of their value, that is, two and a half percent of their value. This is the ruling for the livestock you mentioned.
The questioner : The second question says.
The Shaykh : For these sheep that you feed for half the year, there is no zakah due on you. This is because zakah on livestock is not obligatory unless they are grazing freely. Grazing freely means they graze on what Allah the Exalted has caused to grow on the earth for the entire year or more. As for what is fed for more than half the year or half the year, there is no zakah in it, unless you have been feeding them for trade, such that you are a trader who trades in these livestock, selling these and buying those. In that case, they have the ruling of zakah on merchandise. If this is your situation, meaning that you trade in them, selling and buying, and you are not keeping them for breeding, then you must pay their zakah by estimating their value each year and then paying out one-quarter of one-tenth of their value, that is, two and a half percent of their value. This is the ruling for the livestock you mentioned.
The questioner : The second question says.