Zakat on Livestock

The zakat on livestock (al-an'am) is one of the oldest and most thoroughly documented forms of zakat, with the nisab thresholds and rates for each type of animal precisely specified in the Sunnah. Ibn Uthaymin treats this chapter with historical grounding, noting that the detailed tables for livestock zakat were memorized and transmitted by the Companions and are preserved in the prophetic traditions with remarkable precision. The three types of livestock subject to zakat are camels (ibil), cattle (baqar), and sheep and goats (ghanam).

For camels, the nisab begins at five camels. The rate increases in a detailed graduated scale: five camels owe one sheep; ten camels owe two sheep; fifteen camels owe three sheep; twenty camels owe four sheep; twenty-five camels owe a young she-camel (bint makhad, approximately one year old). The scale continues with increasing levels of obligation as the herd grows, with the specific animals due at each level explicitly named in the hadith. Ibn Uthaymin explains these thresholds with reference to the letter of Zakat that Abu Bakr al-Siddiq sent to Anas ibn Malik, which contains the most complete specification of camel zakat and is one of the most important early documents of Islamic administrative history.

For cattle, the nisab is thirty head. On thirty to thirty-nine cattle, the zakat is one tabi' (a calf in its second year). On forty to fifty-nine cattle, the zakat is one musinnah (a cow or bull in its third year). On sixty cattle, two tabi's are due. The scale continues in increments of thirty and forty. Ibn Uthaymin notes the wisdom behind this graduated system: it is proportional to the size of the herd and accounts for the varying value of animals at different ages.

For sheep and goats, the nisab is forty animals. On forty to one hundred and twenty animals, the zakat is one sheep. On one hundred and twenty-one to two hundred, two sheep are due. On two hundred and one to three hundred, three sheep. Beyond three hundred, one sheep per hundred is added. Ibn Uthaymin explains that goats and sheep are counted together as one category for the purposes of calculating the nisab and the zakat due, and that the sex and quality of the animal due as zakat is specified: a female, in the middle of quality — neither the best of the herd nor the worst.

The conditions for livestock zakat include: the animals must be owned for a full lunar year; they must be saimah (grazing freely on open pasture) for the majority of the year rather than being fed with purchased or harvested fodder; and they must be raised for their products (milk, wool, offspring) rather than for slaughter or use as draft animals. Ibn Uthaymin explains the condition of saimah in detail, noting that if livestock are fed stored fodder for the majority of the year, they are not subject to zakat on livestock but may be subject to zakat on business goods (tijarah) if intended for profit. This distinction reflects the Islamic approach of targeting zakat at productive wealth that is generating benefit for the owner.