Zakat, Fasting, and Hajj in Bidayat al-Mubtadi

Al-Marghinani's treatment of the remaining three pillars of Islam in Bidayat al-Mubtadi follows the Hanafi school's rulings as established by Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad ash-Shaybani — the three pillars of the Hanafi juristic tradition.

zakah in the Hanafi school applies to five categories of wealth: gold and silver (or currency), trade goods, livestock, agricultural produce, and buried treasure or mineral wealth (rikaz). The nisab for gold is twenty dinars (approximately 85 grams) and for silver two hundred dirhams (approximately 595 grams). A notable Hanafi position is that the nisab for determining the zakah obligation may be calculated using either gold or silver — and the Hanafi school traditionally favored the silver standard because it results in a lower threshold, thereby bringing more wealth into the zakah obligation and ensuring greater distribution to the poor.

The Hanafi school's position on zakah for agricultural produce is broader than the other schools: zakah applies to all crops and agricultural products, not only grains and dried fruits. Any land that is watered naturally (by rain or rivers) is taxed at 10% of its produce; land watered by irrigation at 5%. Uniquely among the four schools, the Hanafi position does not require the produce to reach a minimum nisab threshold — even a small amount of agricultural produce is subject to zakah. Bidayat al-Mubtadi states this clearly.

For fasting, the Hanafi school holds that the intention for Ramadan fasting must be made by midday at the latest — a position more lenient than the Maliki school's requirement of intending the night before, though stricter than simply requiring intention at some point before breaking the fast. The evidential basis for this Hanafi ruling — that the middle of the day marks the 'beginning' of the fasting period in one interpretation — is left for Al-Hidayah to explain.

The Hanafi school's approach to things that break the fast (muftirat) is detailed in Bidayat al-Mubtadi. The Hanafi school distinguishes between acts that break the fast and require both making up the day (qada') and expiation (kaffara) — such as intentional eating, drinking, or sexual intercourse during Ramadan — and acts that break the fast and require only making up the day. The Hanafi school also holds that certain acts break the fast that other schools may not recognize, including: applying drops to the ear or nose that reach the throat, using a suppository, or sexual intercourse without ejaculation.

Hajj in Bidayat al-Mubtadi follows the Hanafi school's analysis of the obligatory elements (fara'id), necessary acts (wajibat), and recommended practices (sunan) of pilgrimage. The Hanafi school's fara'id of hajj are three: ihram, standing at Arafah, and tawaf al-ifadah. The sa'y between Safa and Marwa is classified as wajib (necessary) rather than fard (obligatory) in the Hanafi school — meaning its deliberate omission is sinful and requires a compensatory sacrifice (dam), but the hajj itself is not invalid. This differs from the Maliki and Shafi'i schools, which classify sa'y as a pillar (rukn) of hajj.

Bidayat al-Mubtadi's concise presentation of these three pillars gives students the essential map of Hanafi practice in worship, which they will then study in far greater depth through Al-Hidayah's commentary. The text's compression is a pedagogical feature, not a limitation — it provides the framework that the commentary fills with reasoning, evidence, and inter-school comparison.