Zakat and the Obligations of Wealth

Al-Tahawi's chapter on zakah begins with the fundamental conditions that trigger the obligation: the wealth must reach the nisab threshold, a full lunar year must pass while the wealth remains at or above that threshold, and the owner must be a free Muslim of sound mind. The nisab for gold is twenty mithqals (approximately 85 grams), and for silver it is two hundred dirhams (approximately 595 grams). For trade goods, the nisab is calculated by their monetary value at the end of the year relative to the silver nisab, since silver is the Hanafi default measure for commercial wealth. zakah on gold and silver is two and a half percent of the total amount, a rate derived from the well-known hadith narrations transmitted from the Prophet and applied consistently across the school.

For livestock, the Hanafi nisab thresholds follow the detailed schedules transmitted from the Prophet's officials in Medina. For camels: one sheep for every five camels up to twenty-four; a bint makhad (one-year-old female camel) for twenty-five through thirty-five; and the schedule continues upward. For cattle, a tabi' (one-year-old bull or cow) is due for every thirty head, and a musinnah (two-year-old) for every forty. For sheep and goats, the nisab is forty, with one sheep due; one hundred and twenty-one triggers two; two hundred and one triggers three; then one additional sheep for every additional hundred. Al-Tahawi records these schedules in the tradition of the school, emphasizing that they derive from the known prophetic letters sent to governors on the collection of zakah.

The eight categories of zakah recipients are specified in Surah al-Tawbah (9:60): the poor (fuqara'), the needy (masakin), those employed to collect zakah, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, for freeing slaves, those in debt, in the path of Allah, and the wayfarer. Abu Hanifa's well-known position is that the category 'those whose hearts are to be reconciled' was abrogated after Islam became strong, and zakah should not be given to wealthy non-Muslims under an Islamic government to win their favor. The other seven categories remain active recipients. Within those categories, the Hanafi school holds that it is better to give one's entire zakah to a single needy person rather than dividing it among many, though dividing is also permissible.

The Hanafi rules on zakah distribution include important restrictions. zakah cannot be given to the Banu Hashim (the family of the Prophet) or their clients, following the prophetic ruling that zakah is the dirt of people and not permissible for his family. It cannot be given to a wealthy person, nor to a person whom one is already obligated to support financially (such as one's wife or dependent children). Giving zakah to one's own parents or children is not valid, since one is already responsible for their maintenance. The transfer of ownership to the recipient is a condition of valid zakah payment in the Hanafi school: paying a debt on behalf of a poor person counts as zakah only if the poor person has first received the money and then paid his own debt. These technical conditions reflect al-Tahawi's goal of preserving the internal logic of Hanafi rulings with precision and concision.