Is gold combined with silver, and grazing livestock with their offspring, to complete the nisab for zakah?
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The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Is gold combined with silver, and grazing livestock with their offspring, to complete the nisab for paying zakah?
The Shaykh : As for silver and gold, if we have silver and gold, each item has its own nisab, as is well known, so they are not combined. One does not combine what is separate, nor separate what is combined, as stated in the authentic hadith. As for grazing livestock, they are originally subject to zakah by nature, and their offspring are attached to them.
The questioner : For example, if a person has thirty sheep, on which there is no zakah?
The Shaykh : Until they become forty.
The questioner : Yes, and then after ten months, because the lunar year must be completed, is that not so?
The Shaykh : That is correct.
The questioner : Then, after four months have passed, did this grazing livestock give birth?
The Shaykh : Meaning, before the completion of the lunar year for the grazing livestock, is that correct?
The questioner : Before what?
The Shaykh : The completion of the lunar year for the grazing livestock.
The questioner : Yes, and then the grazing livestock completed a year.
The Shaykh : The grazing livestock completed the year, but the offspring were born before...
The questioner : Just two months.
The Shaykh : So zakah did not become obligatory.
The questioner : Meaning, this is not added to that?
The Shaykh : No, whether it is added or not, the matter is settled, but...
The questioner : The offspring to the original grazing livestock?
The Shaykh : My master, it is added, but on the basis that the lunar year must pass over this total.
The questioner : Meaning, the lunar year must pass over the offspring as well?
The Shaykh : Not even over the offspring, but over the original grazing livestock. By this, I mean the grazing livestock had the lunar year pass over them. While the lunar year was passing over them, they gave birth, so zakah is paid on the total; because the lunar year had passed over the original stock. This issue is like a person who has a nisab of gold or silver. This nisab began, for example, in Muharram, before the entry of the second month of Muharram. He received another nisab, so he adds this to the first nisab. The second Muharram arrived. Here we say the lunar year has passed over the first nisab, but the lunar year has not passed over the other nisabs. There are two well-known schools of thought among the jurists: some say a lunar year is calculated for each nisab, and some say no, rather these nisabs are added to the first nisab. So when the lunar year passes over this first nisab, zakah is paid on it and on the nisabs that joined it. This is what we consider stronger and see as closer, first for the ease of the Shari'ah and for the benefit of the poor and the needy. Likewise, the issue of grazing livestock and their offspring.
The questioner : Is gold combined with silver, and grazing livestock with their offspring, to complete the nisab for paying zakah?
The Shaykh : As for silver and gold, if we have silver and gold, each item has its own nisab, as is well known, so they are not combined. One does not combine what is separate, nor separate what is combined, as stated in the authentic hadith. As for grazing livestock, they are originally subject to zakah by nature, and their offspring are attached to them.
The questioner : For example, if a person has thirty sheep, on which there is no zakah?
The Shaykh : Until they become forty.
The questioner : Yes, and then after ten months, because the lunar year must be completed, is that not so?
The Shaykh : That is correct.
The questioner : Then, after four months have passed, did this grazing livestock give birth?
The Shaykh : Meaning, before the completion of the lunar year for the grazing livestock, is that correct?
The questioner : Before what?
The Shaykh : The completion of the lunar year for the grazing livestock.
The questioner : Yes, and then the grazing livestock completed a year.
The Shaykh : The grazing livestock completed the year, but the offspring were born before...
The questioner : Just two months.
The Shaykh : So zakah did not become obligatory.
The questioner : Meaning, this is not added to that?
The Shaykh : No, whether it is added or not, the matter is settled, but...
The questioner : The offspring to the original grazing livestock?
The Shaykh : My master, it is added, but on the basis that the lunar year must pass over this total.
The questioner : Meaning, the lunar year must pass over the offspring as well?
The Shaykh : Not even over the offspring, but over the original grazing livestock. By this, I mean the grazing livestock had the lunar year pass over them. While the lunar year was passing over them, they gave birth, so zakah is paid on the total; because the lunar year had passed over the original stock. This issue is like a person who has a nisab of gold or silver. This nisab began, for example, in Muharram, before the entry of the second month of Muharram. He received another nisab, so he adds this to the first nisab. The second Muharram arrived. Here we say the lunar year has passed over the first nisab, but the lunar year has not passed over the other nisabs. There are two well-known schools of thought among the jurists: some say a lunar year is calculated for each nisab, and some say no, rather these nisabs are added to the first nisab. So when the lunar year passes over this first nisab, zakah is paid on it and on the nisabs that joined it. This is what we consider stronger and see as closer, first for the ease of the Shari'ah and for the benefit of the poor and the needy. Likewise, the issue of grazing livestock and their offspring.
Source
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