Zakat and Fasting in Al-Wajiz

Al-Ghazali's treatment of zakah and fasting in Al-Wajiz presents the Shafi'i school's rulings in the compact format characteristic of the work. The coverage is sufficient for the student to know their obligations while the evidential basis and detailed analysis are reserved for the larger works.

zakah in Al-Wajiz covers the standard Shafi'i categories. For monetary wealth, the conditions are clear: Islam, freedom, complete ownership, reaching the nisab, and completion of the hawl. The nisab for gold is 20 mithqal and for silver 200 dirhams, with 2.5% due on both. Al-Ghazali notes the Shafi'i position that gold and silver cannot be combined when assessing the nisab — each metal must independently reach its own threshold.

For agricultural produce, al-Ghazali presents the Shafi'i restriction to storable staple foods: wheat, barley, millet, rice (and their equivalents in different regions), plus dried dates and raisins. The nisab is five awsuq and the rate depends on irrigation. Produce not meeting these criteria — vegetables, most fresh fruits, non-staple crops — is not subject to agricultural zakah in the Shafi'i school.

For livestock, the detailed scales for camels, cattle, and small ruminants are presented compactly. Al-Ghazali notes the condition that the animals must be freely grazing (sa'imah) for most of the year and must be held for their natural increase or milk production, not for immediate use in labor or transport.

For sawm in Al-Wajiz, al-Ghazali presents the Shafi'i requirements with his characteristic precision. The nighttime intention is obligatory for each day of Ramadan — no delayed intention is permitted in the Shafi'i school. The fast's nullifiers include all the standard items, with al-Ghazali's Shafi'i-specific addition that any substance entering a body cavity through any natural opening breaks the fast.

Al-Ghazali connects the fasting chapter to its spiritual purpose in a way unusual for a dry legal text. He notes that the outward fast — abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations — is the minimum requirement. The Prophet (peace be upon him) described a higher level of fasting in which the eyes, ears, tongue, and hands also fast from all that Allah has prohibited. And a still higher level in which the heart fasts from attachment to everything other than Allah. This graduated understanding of fasting reflects al-Ghazali's integration of law and spiritual development.

The kaffarah for breaking Ramadan through sexual intercourse is treated clearly: free a slave; if unable, fast sixty consecutive days; if unable, feed sixty poor people. Al-Ghazali notes the Shafi'i position that the kaffarah follows the order of preference and one may not skip directly to feeding without first attempting fasting — unlike the Hanafi school that permits choosing any of the three in any order.