Rulings on the Mixing of Livestock

Q: Is it permissible for two or three men to combine their livestock for the sake of zakah?

A: It is not permissible to combine or separate zakah-eligible wealth in order to escape zakah, or in order to reduce the amount obligatory in it; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: Al-Bukhari narrated it in his Sahih. So if a man has forty sheep and he separates them so that zakah does not become obligatory on them, the zakah does not drop off from him, and he thereby commits a sin; because he is resorting to a stratagem to drop what Allah has made obligatory.
Likewise, combining that which is separate out of fear of charity is not permissible. So if a man has sheep, camels, or cattle that reach the nisab, and he adds them to the camels, cattle, or sheep of another man so that the obligatory amount is reduced for both of them due to a mixing that has no basis, and they only mixed with the intention of reducing the obligatory amount when the zakah collector comes, the obligatory amount does not drop off from them, and they thereby commit sins, and they must pay the remainder of the obligatory amount.
So if one of them has forty sheep, and the other has sixty sheep, and they mix them when the collector comes so that only one sheep becomes obligatory on them, this mixing does not benefit them, and the remainder of the obligatory amount does not drop off from them; because it is a forbidden stratagem. And they owe another sheep to be given to the poor, one-fifth of its value on the owner of the forty, and three-fifths of it on the owner of the sixty. And likewise, the sheep they gave to the collector is between them on this ratio. And they must repent to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and not return to such a stratagem.
As for if the mixing is for cooperation between them and is not a stratagem to drop or reduce the obligatory amount, there is no harm in it if its conditions, as explained in the books of the scholars, are met; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith mentioned above: .