If the sheep are a mix of sheep and goats, numbering fifty, and their feed is purchased, is there zakat on them, what is the amount, and are sheep and goats treated equally in this regard?
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The questioner : I have a group of sheep, numbering approximately fifty, which are a mix of sheep and goats. They feed on the fodder that we purchase. Is there zakat on them, what is the amount, and are sheep and goats treated equally in this regard?
The Shaykh : Regarding the sheep you have, whether they are sheep or goats, one looks at your intention with them. If you intend them for trade, meaning you buy and sell them whenever you find a profit in any of them, then these are trade goods, and it is obligatory for you to pay zakat on them in all cases, even if you feed them, because they are trade wealth. They are like the wealth of a merchant who is in the shop. The amount of zakat on them is one-quarter of one-tenth, meaning that when the lunar year of possession for zakat has passed, you estimate how much they are worth in currency, and you pay out one-quarter of one-tenth of their value. One-quarter of one-tenth is known: it is two and a half percent, or twenty-five per thousand. If you wish, you can say one out of every forty, meaning you divide the wealth you have by forty, and whatever comes out of the division is the zakat. However, if your intention with these sheep and goats is for development and keeping them for milk and offspring, then the condition for the obligation of zakat on them is that they graze on what is permitted, meaning what grows in the open land, for the entire year or most of it. If you feed them for the entire year, or most of the year, or half the year—half fed and half grazing—then there is no zakat on them. This is because zakat is only obligatory on them if they are grazing freely. The amount of zakat on them is known: for every forty sheep, one sheep; for one hundred and twenty-one sheep, two sheep; for two hundred and one sheep, three sheep; and then for every hundred sheep thereafter.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : Regarding the sheep you have, whether they are sheep or goats, one looks at your intention with them. If you intend them for trade, meaning you buy and sell them whenever you find a profit in any of them, then these are trade goods, and it is obligatory for you to pay zakat on them in all cases, even if you feed them, because they are trade wealth. They are like the wealth of a merchant who is in the shop. The amount of zakat on them is one-quarter of one-tenth, meaning that when the lunar year of possession for zakat has passed, you estimate how much they are worth in currency, and you pay out one-quarter of one-tenth of their value. One-quarter of one-tenth is known: it is two and a half percent, or twenty-five per thousand. If you wish, you can say one out of every forty, meaning you divide the wealth you have by forty, and whatever comes out of the division is the zakat. However, if your intention with these sheep and goats is for development and keeping them for milk and offspring, then the condition for the obligation of zakat on them is that they graze on what is permitted, meaning what grows in the open land, for the entire year or most of it. If you feed them for the entire year, or most of the year, or half the year—half fed and half grazing—then there is no zakat on them. This is because zakat is only obligatory on them if they are grazing freely. The amount of zakat on them is known: for every forty sheep, one sheep; for one hundred and twenty-one sheep, two sheep; for two hundred and one sheep, three sheep; and then for every hundred sheep thereafter.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.