To whom the Zakat of Livestock is Paid in the Absence of Khilafah!

প্রশ্ন · Question

Assalamu Alaikum our Brother Abu Yaseen, may Allah protect you and
give you long life,
As for the

উত্তর · Answer

to question about the Zakat of livestock... We know
that Zakat is obliged on pasturing sheep and goats, and no Zakat is on

non-pasturing sheep and goats (al -ghanam). When the owner of
livestock feeds his livestock for most of the year of his own expenses
and only graze for a very small period of the year, with the purpose of
increasing production since female sheep often give birth twice and
this is the result of feeding it most of the year (and the sheep here is
not for trade), is the Zakat obliged here or not? And Allah bless you.
Question:
Assalamu Alaikum, may Allah Bless you and reward you with goodness
and bring victory to you.
To whom the Zakat of livestock is paid in the absence of the Khilafah?
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
Both your questions are about the Zakat on livestock and to whom is
paid, so I made the answer to both of you together, which is as follows:
Firstly: Zakat on farm animals, sheep/goat, cattle and camels:
1- There is no Zakat on foraged sheep and cattle, because the
“animal’s supplied food” describes the concept of the causation, and
the concept of the attribute is to connect the legal ruling with an
attribute from amongst the personal attributes. This shows the
negation of the legal ruling for the individual when the attribute does
not exist, and its condition is for this attribute to be distinctively clear,
meaning that it fulfills the causation, and so if it doesn’t, then the
concept ceases to exist. I re peat, the condition of the concept of the
attribute must be a distinctively clear attribute, such as what he ﷺ
said: «“…the owner has to pay one sheep as
Zakat” (reported by Bukhari). The term “sheep” is a noun, and it has
two attributes: pasturing and foraging, and so the obligation is upon
those which pasture, yet not those which forage.

2- The evidence for this is as follows:
- Abu Dhar narrated from the Prophet ﷺ saying: «
سْمَنَ، تَنْطَحُهُ
َ
عْظَمَ مَا كَانَتْ، وَأ
َ
بَقَرٍ، وَلََ غَنَمٍ، لََ يُؤَدري زَكَاتَها، إِلاَّ جَاءَتْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ، أ
خْفَافِهَا
َ
بِقُرُونِهَا، وَتَطَؤُهُ بِأ No owner of camels, cattle or sheep/goats will
fail to give their due right except they will come bigger and fatter
than they were, on the Day of Judgement to butt him with their
horns and trample him with their hoofs.” (Agreed upon).
- Abu Dawood narrated from Abu Bakr from the Prophet ﷺ in a
long Hadith that he said:
«... رْبَعِيْ َ، فَفِيهَا شَاةٌ
َ
وَف ِي سَائِمَةِ الْغَنَمِ إِذَا كَانَتْ أ » “…and a female sheep
(Shat) in grazing sheep and goats if they are forty…”
- Ali (ra) who said: ي البقر العوامل صدقة
«“There is no Sadaqah
upon working cattle.” Narrated by Abu Ubayd and al-Bayhaqi.
- Also narrated from Amr ibn Dinar who said that he heard that the
Rasuul ﷺ said: «لَيْسَ ف ِيْ الثَّوْرِ الْمُثِيَْةِ صَدَقَةٌ There is no Sadaqah on
Muthira bovine which are used for ploughing the soil.” Narrated by
Abu Obaida, who also narrated from Jaber ibn Abdulllah saying: «
صَدَقَةَ عَلََ مُثِيَْةٍ There is no Sadaqah upon the Muthira.” and the term
“Muthira” means animal used to plough the soil, making it ready for
agriculture.
- Al-Hakim extracted in his book, Al -Mustadrak, two Hadith Sahih
narrated by Baz ibn Hakim on the authority of his father on the
authority of his grandfather, who said: I heard the Rasuul ﷺ say:
«رْبَعِيْ َ ابْنَةُ لَبُونٍ
َ
ف ِي كُلر إِبِلٍ سَائِمَةٍ ف ِي كُلر أ » “With regards to pasturing
camels, for every forty there is a Bint Labboun (a two -year old
camel)…” (reported by Al -Hakim that this Hadith is Sahih in its Isnad
(chain of transmission) “The pasturing livestock: are livestock which
graze in the prairies and farm lands without being foraged.”

3- Therefore, these three farm animals must have Zakat paid for them,
as mentioned above, since the Zakat is upon the pasturing animals
which have been grazing for more than a year, but no Zakat on the
foraged sheep and cattle, as well as the working cattle does not.
4- In summary there is no Zakat on a variety of animals except for farm
animals: sheep/goats, cattle and camels. As for animals in trading,
there is Zakat on every animal whether it was for trading (i.e. selling
and buying) since there are texts about such Zakat on everything which
is used for trading, whatever the product is, whether it was seeds,
cloths, or animals, etc. We shall mention some of the texts about
trading merchandise:
- From Samura ibn Jundub who said: مَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صلَ الله عليه
َ
«
نْ نُخْرِجَ الصَّدَقَةَ مِنَ الهذِي نُعِدُّ لِلْبَيْعِ
َ
مُرُنَا أ
ْ
وسلم كَانَ يَأ See! Verily the
Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to command us to give Sadaqah on what
we prepared for sale” (Narrated by Abu Dawud).
- Abu Dharr narrated from the Prophet ﷺ who said: «
“There is Sadaqah in Bazz.” (Narrated by al-Daraqutni and al-Bayhaqi).
Al-Bazz are clothes and woven material used for trading.
Secondly: To whom the Zakat on livestock is paid in the absence of the
Khilafah, as stated in your question, as if you do not mean the
beneficiaries of the Zakat rather to whom it is paid?
1- Zakat is paid, whether it is livestock, crops and fruits, currency or
trading merchandise to the Khalifah or his representative such as
governors (Wulat) or workers (‘Amileen) or whoever he appoints as
collectors (Su’at) and employees (‘Amileen) over the Sadaqat. Allah ﷻ
said:
[مْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهررُهُمْ وَتُزَكِيهِمْ بِهَا وَصَلر عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَع صَلََتَكَ سَكَنٌ لَهُمْ وَاللَّهُ
َ
خذْ مِنْ أ
سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ]

“Take Sadaqah from their wealth in order to purify them and sanctify
them with it, and pray for them. Verily your prayer is peace for them”
[At-Tauba: 103]
Allah ﷻ obliged His Messenger ﷺ in this Ayah to take Sadaqah from
the owners of wealth, and the Messenger ﷺ used to appoint
governors, workers and collectors to take the Sadaqah from the
owners of wealth just as he would appoint estimators (Khurraas) to
estimate the harvest of the palm and grape trees. People at the time of
the Prophet ﷺ used to pay the Zakat to him or those governors,
workers and collectors whom he appointed over the Sadaqah…. The
situation continued like this after him... and Zakat used to be paid to
the caliphs and their appointed governors. There are some narration
reported from the Sahabah and followers (Tabi’in) allowing a person to
distribute Zakat personally and to put it in its place in case of hard
money i.e. currency. It was narrated by Abu Ubayd that Kaysan came
to ‘Umar with 200 Dirhams as Sadaqah, saying to h im: «يا أميْ المؤمنيْ ،
هذه زكاة مالَي »،O Amir al-Mu’mineen, this is the Zakat of my wealth.” So
‘Umar said to him: «فاذهب بها أنت فاقسمها » “You go and distribute it
yourself.” It has also been narrated by Abu Ubayd from ibn Abbas that
he said: «ي مواضعها، ولم تَعُدَّ منها أحداً تَعُولُه شيئاً، فلا بأس
إذا وضعتها أنت ف »
“There is no problem if you put it in its place and don’t give anything of
it to anyone whom you support.” It was also narrated the statement of
Ibrahim and Al -Hassan said: «خْفِها
َ
ضعها مواضعها، وأ» “Put it in its place
and conceal it.” This is in relation to the hard money i.e. currency.
As for livestock, crops and fruits. these must be paid to the Khalifah or
whoever he appoints, for Abu Bakr fought those who denied the Zakat,
when they refused to pay it to the governors and collectors, saying:
«ي عناقاً كانوا يؤدونه إلَ رسول الله لقاتلتهم عليه
والله لو منعوب » “By Allah, if they
deny me one baby goat (‘Unaq) that they used to give to the
Messenger of Allah I will fight them for it.” Agreed upon through Abu

Huraira. If the Khalifah does not exist, it is permissible to be delivered
by the Zakat payer to its beneficiaries, who are mentioned in the verse:
[إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِيْ ِ وَالْعَامِلِيْ َ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلهفَةِ قُلُوب ُهُمْ وَف ِي الررقَابِ
وَالْغَارِمِيْ َ وَف ِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ فَرِيضَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ]
“Verily the Sadaqat are (only) for the poor, needy, those employed
upon it, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, slaves, debtors,
those in the way of Allah and the wayfarers” [At-Tauba: 60]
The pillars of Islam are not to be disrupted in all circumstances and
conditions, but are performed in the best possible way...
This is what I see regarding this issue, and Allah knows best and He is
All-Wise.
Your brother,
Abu Yasin
28th Jumada I 1440 AH
03/02/2019 CE