Zakat, Fasting, Hajj, and the Other Pillars

Ar-Ramli's sections on zakah, sawm, and hajj follow the standard organizational pattern of Shafi'i manuals, though his commentary adds a layer of precision and cross-referencing that elevates these chapters beyond simple legal transmission.

On zakah, ar-Ramli begins with its five conditions: Islam, freedom from slavery, ownership of the nisab (minimum taxable threshold), uninterrupted ownership for a full lunar year (hawl) for most categories of wealth, and the wealth being of a type on which zakah is due. The categories of zakatable wealth include gold and silver (and by extension modern currency, as later scholars have argued by analogy), trade goods, livestock of specific types, and agricultural produce. For each category, ar-Ramli specifies the nisab, the rate, and the conditions under which the hawl applies or does not — notably that hawl is not required for agricultural produce, which is taxed at harvest.

For zakah on livestock, ar-Ramli reproduces the detailed scale found in the hadith of Anas and other reports: the nisab for camels, cattle, and sheep, and the graduated rates as their numbers increase. He addresses questions of mixed ownership and animals held jointly by partners, applying the principle that each partner's share is assessed individually unless they fall under the specific juristic arrangement of khulta (co-mingled property), which the Shafi'i school recognizes as combining partners for zakah purposes.

On sawm, the obligatory fast of Ramadan, ar-Ramli identifies its conditions: Islam, puberty, sanity, the ability to fast, not being in a state of hayd or nifas, and the confirmed beginning of the month through moon sighting or completing thirty days of Sha'ban. The pillars of the fast are the intention (made each night for the following day's fast, according to the Shafi'i position) and the abstention from all nullifiers — eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, and deliberate vomiting — from true dawn (fajr sadiq) until sunset.

The expiations (kaffarah) for deliberately breaking the Ramadan fast are given in their classical order: freeing a slave, fasting two consecutive months, or feeding sixty poor persons. Ar-Ramli addresses the contemporary question of whether these apply only to the specific violation of intercourse or to all deliberate nullifications, reproducing the Shafi'i position and noting the Maliki and Hanafi alternatives.

On hajj and 'umrah, ar-Ramli covers the conditions of obligation — Islam, maturity, sanity, freedom, and physical and financial ability — and the pillars of hajj itself: the ihram, the standing at 'Arafah on the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah, the tawaf al-ifadah, and the sa'y between Safa and Marwa. He discusses the mahram requirement for women and the detailed rulings of the prohibited acts of ihram, applying the Shafi'i principle that fidyah (ransom) is required for each deliberate violation of these restrictions.