Zakat and Fasting: Comparative Analysis and Contemporary Applications

Az-Zuhayli's comparative treatment of zakah and fasting in Al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuh is distinguished not only by its comprehensive coverage of the four schools' classical positions but also by its careful attention to contemporary applications — questions that were not addressed by classical scholars because they did not exist in the pre-modern world.

On zakah, the comparative presentation covers all five categories of zakatable property across the four schools. Az-Zuhayli notes the areas of consensus — the nisab for gold and silver, the rate of one fortieth, the hawl requirement for monetary wealth and livestock, the basic categories of zakatable property — and the areas of disagreement, including: whether zakah applies to the wealth of minors (Hanafi: no; others: yes); whether gold jewelry held for personal use is zakatable (Maliki and Shafi'i: generally no; Hanbali: yes); whether agricultural zakah extends beyond stored grains and dates (Hanafi: broader; Shafi'i: narrower); and whether different zakatable categories are combined for nisab purposes.

Az-Zuhayli's section on contemporary zakah questions is among the most practically important in the work. He addresses the question of paper currency: all four schools agree that paper currency is subject to zakah, assessed at the silver nisab (approximately 595 grams of silver in value) or — in the contemporary majority view — at the gold nisab (approximately 85 grams of gold in value). Az-Zuhayli presents both nisab standards with their arguments and recommends the position most favorable to zakah recipients (typically the silver nisab, which is lower in monetary terms, obligating more people to pay zakah at a lower threshold).

Investment accounts, shares in companies, and modern financial instruments are addressed by applying classical principles. Az-Zuhayli explains that shares in a company represent proportionate ownership in the company's assets — including its cash, trade goods, and other zakatable property — and that the shareholder must calculate their proportionate share of the company's zakatable assets and pay zakah on that amount. This application of classical ownership principles to modern financial instruments is one of az-Zuhayli's most significant contributions to contemporary Islamic financial law.

For fasting, the comparative presentation covers the principal differences between schools: the nighttime intention requirement (Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali: required each night; Maliki: one intention at the beginning of the month is sufficient); the daytime intention for Ramadan if forgotten (Maliki: permitted before midday; others: not permitted); the acts that break the fast (similar across schools with some technical differences in defining 'reaching the body cavity'); and the kaffarah for deliberately breaking the fast.

Az-Zuhayli addresses contemporary fasting questions that classical scholars could not have anticipated: does receiving an intravenous injection break the fast? The majority contemporary view (shared by az-Zuhayli) is that IV fluids break the fast if they are nutritive, but may not break it if they are purely medicinal and non-nutritive. Does the dialysis process break the fast? Az-Zuhayli's analysis works through the question using the classical principle of what constitutes 'entering the body cavity' and the contemporary medical understanding of how dialysis functions.

The section on modern food production — whether flavorings inhaled by workers in food factories, or traces of flavoring in toothpaste, break the fast — demonstrates az-Zuhayli's ability to apply classical principles to genuinely novel situations. His conclusions are nuanced and evidence-based, modeling the kind of contemporary ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) that he believes is necessary for Islamic law to remain a living guide for Muslims in the modern world.