Zakat and Sawm in the Maliki School

Al-Kharshi's commentary on zakah in the Maliki school presents the standard obligatory categories — gold and silver, trade goods, agricultural produce, and livestock — while highlighting distinctive Maliki positions. The Maliki school is notable for the breadth of agricultural produce subject to zakah: it includes not only grains and dried fruits but also every food item that can be dried and stored, encompassing a wider range of crops than the Shafi'i school.

The Maliki school's position on combining gold and silver when assessing the nisab follows the Hanafi school in permitting this combination — the two are combined by value when determining whether the zakah threshold has been reached. This contrasts with the Shafi'i school's prohibition on such combination.

For trade goods, the Maliki school assesses them once each year at the nisab of gold or silver, calculating the value at the time of assessment. Unlike the Shafi'i school, which assesses goods at their value at the end of the hawl year, the Maliki school has some scholars who hold that the assessment should be based on the value at the time of purchase, with subsequent appreciation not included in the zakah base. Al-Kharshi presents these opinions and identifies the mashhur (operative) position.

zakah al-fitr in the Maliki school is obligatory (wajib) upon every free Muslim who has the nisab of wealth on the night of 'Eid, paid on behalf of themselves and their Muslim dependents. The amount is one sa' of the local staple food — wheat, barley, dates, raisins, or other grains. Unlike the Hanafi school, the Maliki school does not permit paying cash equivalents as zakah al-fitr; the physical food commodity must be given.

For sawm (fasting), the Maliki school requires the intention before dawn for each day of Ramadan, similar to the Shafi'i school. A distinctive Maliki ruling concerns the intention for voluntary fasts: a voluntary fast may be initiated with intention after dawn, provided no nullifier has occurred since dawn. This leniency for voluntary fasts, based on a hadith of 'A'ishah, is also adopted by the Hanafi school.

The Maliki school's treatment of fast nullifiers includes several distinctive positions. Intentional vomiting of any amount (not just a mouthful as in the Shafi'i school) breaks the fast. The Maliki school also holds that deliberately swallowing saliva that has gone beyond the outer lip does not break the fast — an area where Maliki legal reasoning differs from the Shafi'i school.

The Maliki school has a well-developed understanding of i'tikaf (mosque seclusion). Unlike the Hanbali school, which requires a mosque where congregational prayers are performed, the Maliki school permits i'tikaf in any mosque, making it accessible in small communities with only a small neighborhood mosque. Al-Kharshi notes that the minimum i'tikaf that fulfills the sunnah is a brief seclusion with intention, though the recommended i'tikaf is at least a full day with fasting.