What is the nisab (minimum threshold for zakah) for livestock?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner: Of course, I haven’t studied it, and I don’t remember if I have an answer for it. So, regarding zakah, it seems to be forty head?
The Shaykh: It varies depending on the type of livestock.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: The forty is specific to sheep.
The questioner: To sheep.
The Shaykh: For cattle and camels, I think it is five.
The questioner: I, of course, meant sheep. My shaykh, what does he say here? He says: I have sheep, which we call, in our Syrian dialect, "Shami." The Shami is the red one, and the local type is the brown one, or some of it has brown mixed with some whiteness in the same wool. Of course, shaykh, when we say sheep, does it include both sheep and goats?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: Good. So now, his question is that he has Shami, which is a mix of red and black.
The Shaykh: A better way to express it.
The questioner : Please, my Shaykh.
The Shaykh: Does he have only sheep?
The questioner: No, goats.
The Shaykh: No goats?
The questioner: Let’s say, for now, that all he has are goats.
The Shaykh: Goats, okay.
The questioner: All goats. Goats are of two types: local and Shami. The local goat, if sold, has an average selling price of around seventy, fluctuating up and down but around that price. The Shami, according to what he said, I don’t know about that, but I know it is more expensive than the local one. He said it can reach two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, and so on. The Shami prices are high.
The Shaykh : Why?
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh : Why?
The questioner: I don’t know, it seems their yield is better, or they are distinguished, shaykh. It is known among us that the Shami is expensive.
The Shaykh: It is not reasonable, three hundred and two hundred dinars!!!
The questioner: Our shaykh, and there are also ones for one thousand five hundred. One goat is one thousand five hundred.
Another questioner: Shaykh, this will be...
The Shaykh: One will be an outlier, but we are speaking of the species in general.
The questioner: This species.
Another questioner: The species, shaykh, is expensive. Have you seen the Shami, shaykh? I mean its appearance.
The Shaykh: You are talking about goats.
The questioner: About goats now.
The Shaykh: Is this the goat we see on the road near the cemetery?
The questioner: No, this is all ordinary.
The Shaykh: I understand, this is local?
The questioner: This is local, yes.
The Shaykh: I understand, yes, the Shami is similar, what is the difference?
The questioner: The Shami’s wool or hair color is a distinct red, and it is like this, glory to the One who created it, meaning He created it neatly, I seek Allah’s forgiveness, He created it, meaning...
The Shaykh: This is the intended question.
The questioner: It is distinct. So now, this one has a high price and this one has a low price. So now, he wants to give one, how does he give it?
The Shaykh: Give one?
The questioner: Yes, meaning it is obligatory on him. He has forty head, a mix of Shami and local.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: So when he wants to give the head, how? Does he give from the local or from the Shami?
The Shaykh: First, the text in the verse that says, meaning at least: do not aim for the bad to give from it.
The questioner: Yes: from it you spend.
The Shaykh: Huh? Yes, that is the meaning, I am saying this because I am not recalling the verse.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Then, we have hadiths about the zakah of livestock, that it is not permissible for the collector to take from the best of the sheep.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Because this happened during the time of the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Shaykh: They complained about it, so he ordered him not to take from the best of them or the worst of them, but from the middle. So what is directed to the collector is directed in the same way to the one giving charity. Let’s assume, for example, based on what I heard earlier, and although I do not fully grasp this statement, there is a difference, there is a difference, but between seventy and three hundred, and as I said earlier, as a species, but from the species, he chooses from it what is worth three hundred. I also say, from the seventy, he chooses from it what may be worth one hundred and fifty as individuals.
The questioner: As individuals?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: But as a species, this species is seventy, for example, and that Shami species, as you say, is three hundred, I find that unlikely. And in any case, I have neither a camel nor a goat in it.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: And I am only saying that logically I find it unlikely as a species, but as individuals, yes.
The Shaykh: It varies depending on the type of livestock.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: The forty is specific to sheep.
The questioner: To sheep.
The Shaykh: For cattle and camels, I think it is five.
The questioner: I, of course, meant sheep. My shaykh, what does he say here? He says: I have sheep, which we call, in our Syrian dialect, "Shami." The Shami is the red one, and the local type is the brown one, or some of it has brown mixed with some whiteness in the same wool. Of course, shaykh, when we say sheep, does it include both sheep and goats?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: Good. So now, his question is that he has Shami, which is a mix of red and black.
The Shaykh: A better way to express it.
The questioner : Please, my Shaykh.
The Shaykh: Does he have only sheep?
The questioner: No, goats.
The Shaykh: No goats?
The questioner: Let’s say, for now, that all he has are goats.
The Shaykh: Goats, okay.
The questioner: All goats. Goats are of two types: local and Shami. The local goat, if sold, has an average selling price of around seventy, fluctuating up and down but around that price. The Shami, according to what he said, I don’t know about that, but I know it is more expensive than the local one. He said it can reach two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, and so on. The Shami prices are high.
The Shaykh : Why?
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh : Why?
The questioner: I don’t know, it seems their yield is better, or they are distinguished, shaykh. It is known among us that the Shami is expensive.
The Shaykh: It is not reasonable, three hundred and two hundred dinars!!!
The questioner: Our shaykh, and there are also ones for one thousand five hundred. One goat is one thousand five hundred.
Another questioner: Shaykh, this will be...
The Shaykh: One will be an outlier, but we are speaking of the species in general.
The questioner: This species.
Another questioner: The species, shaykh, is expensive. Have you seen the Shami, shaykh? I mean its appearance.
The Shaykh: You are talking about goats.
The questioner: About goats now.
The Shaykh: Is this the goat we see on the road near the cemetery?
The questioner: No, this is all ordinary.
The Shaykh: I understand, this is local?
The questioner: This is local, yes.
The Shaykh: I understand, yes, the Shami is similar, what is the difference?
The questioner: The Shami’s wool or hair color is a distinct red, and it is like this, glory to the One who created it, meaning He created it neatly, I seek Allah’s forgiveness, He created it, meaning...
The Shaykh: This is the intended question.
The questioner: It is distinct. So now, this one has a high price and this one has a low price. So now, he wants to give one, how does he give it?
The Shaykh: Give one?
The questioner: Yes, meaning it is obligatory on him. He has forty head, a mix of Shami and local.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: So when he wants to give the head, how? Does he give from the local or from the Shami?
The Shaykh: First, the text in the verse that says, meaning at least: do not aim for the bad to give from it.
The questioner: Yes: from it you spend.
The Shaykh: Huh? Yes, that is the meaning, I am saying this because I am not recalling the verse.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Then, we have hadiths about the zakah of livestock, that it is not permissible for the collector to take from the best of the sheep.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Because this happened during the time of the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Shaykh: They complained about it, so he ordered him not to take from the best of them or the worst of them, but from the middle. So what is directed to the collector is directed in the same way to the one giving charity. Let’s assume, for example, based on what I heard earlier, and although I do not fully grasp this statement, there is a difference, there is a difference, but between seventy and three hundred, and as I said earlier, as a species, but from the species, he chooses from it what is worth three hundred. I also say, from the seventy, he chooses from it what may be worth one hundred and fifty as individuals.
The questioner: As individuals?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: But as a species, this species is seventy, for example, and that Shami species, as you say, is three hundred, I find that unlikely. And in any case, I have neither a camel nor a goat in it.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: And I am only saying that logically I find it unlikely as a species, but as individuals, yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.