Zakat on Livestock in Islam

A guide to the conditions and nishab of zakat for three types of livestock, namely camels, cattle or buffalo, and goats, including how to calculate zakat when animals are jointly owned.

Zakat on livestock must be paid out for camels, cattle or buffalo, and goats once ownership reaches one year (haul), the animals graze freely without wages, and it reaches a certain nishab.
The nishab for camels starts from 5 head, with the rule that for every 40 camels one bintu labun is due, and for every 50 camels one huqqah is due for larger numbers.
The nishab for cattle and buffalo is 30 head, with zakat being one tabi' for 30 head and one musinnah for 40 head.
The nishab for goats is 40 head, with zakat being one goat, and for every additional multiple of 100 head an extra goat is due.
Livestock owned by two or more people that share a pen, herder, and location is zakated as if it belonged to one person, not calculated separately.

There are 3 kinds of animals that are subject to zakat on livestock

Camels
Cattle and buffalo
Goats

Conditions of Zakat on Livestock

1. The main condition of zakat on livestock is that the ownership must have passed one year (until haul), that is, a full lunar year has elapsed.

From Aisyah ra, she said: I heard the Messenger of Allah saw say: "Zakat is not obligatory on wealth until a full year has passed over it." (HR at-Tirmidzi)

As narrated from Abu Bakar, Ustman and Ali ra, the haul is something established in the school of the jurists of Madinah and the scholars of every country: "zakat is not imposed until it fulfils the nishab and a full haul".

2. It grazes freely in an unrestricted place without wages, that is, it is grazed on land permitted for grazing. As for animals that are kept penned (fed in a pen and not grazed), zakat is not obligatory

The Messenger of Allah saw said: "goats that are grazed (in open land) are subject to zakat (HR Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah saw said: "Camels that are grazed (in open land, without wages), for every 40 camels the zakat is one bintu labun" (HR Shahih Abu Dawud, an-Nasai')

3. Reaching the nishab, or having a sufficient number of animals from which zakat is to be paid out. Reaching the nishab, that is, the minimum threshold beyond which zakat must be paid on wealth; if it is less than that, zakat is not obligatory.

The condition of reaching the nishab for zakat on livestock is a condition agreed upon by the majority of scholars. Its wisdom is that someone who owns less than the nishab is not considered wealthy, while zakat is only obligatory upon the wealthy in order to please the poor.

Nishab of Camels

The nishab for camels is 5 head, so whoever owns 4 camels is not yet obligated for zakat. The obligatory zakat on the camel nishab is as in the following table:

Number of Camels and the Amount of Zakat
Nishab of Camels	Amount paid out as zakat
05 to 09 camels	1 goat
10 to 14 camels	2 goats
15 to 19 camels	3 goats
20 to 24 camels	4 goats
25 to 35 camels	1 bintu makhadh (female camel aged 1 - 2 years)
36 to 45 camels	1 bintu labun (male camel aged 2 - 3 years)
46 to 60 camels	1 huqqah (female camel aged 3 - 4 years)
61 to 75 camels	1 jadz'ah (female camel aged 4 - 5 years)
76 to 90 camels	2 bintu labun
91 to 120 camels	2 huqqah

Note: if the number of camels exceeds the figures above, then the rule is:

For every 40 camels the zakat is 1 bintu labun (a male camel that has completed 2 years and entered its 3rd year)
For every 50 camels the zakat is 1 huqqah (a female camel that has completed 3 years and entered its 4th year)

for example:

121 to 129 camels: 3 bintu labun
130 to 139 camels: 1 huqqah and 2 bintu labun
140 to 149 camels: 3 huqqah

The evidence for this ruling is a long hadith narrated by Bukhari from Anas ra, "Abu Bakar ra established this ruling on zakat just as he had conveyed it to the people of Bahrain"

Nishab of Cattle and Buffalo

The nishab for cattle and buffalo is 30 head of cattle. Less than that, zakat is not obligatory. But the nishab for cattle and buffalo becomes obligatory once one owns 30 head.

For 30 head of cattle the zakat is one tabi' (one calf aged 1 year and entering its second year, called tabi', meaning "follower", because it still follows its mother),

For 40 head of cattle the zakat is one musinnah (one calf aged 2 years and entering its 3rd year, called musinnah, meaning "toothed", because its teeth have begun to appear).

Number of Cattle and the Amount of Zakat
Nishab of Cattle and Buffalo	Amount paid out as zakat
60 head of cattle	2 tabi' calves
70 head of cattle	1 tabi' and 1 musinnah
80 head of cattle	2 musinnah
90 head of cattle	3 tabi'
100 head of cattle	2 tabi' and 1 musinnah, and so on

The evidence for this matter is the hadith from Mu'adz bin Jabal.

Muadz bin Jabal ra said, "The Messenger of Allah saw sent me to Yemen, and instructed me to take, for every 40 head of cattle one musinnah, and for every 30 head of cattle one tabi', male or female" (HR Malik, Abu Dawud)

Nishab of Goats

The nishab for goats is 40 head. Less than that, even by just one head, zakat is not obligatory, because the nishab for goats must be 40 head.

Number of Goats and the Amount of Zakat
Nishab of Goats	Amount paid out as zakat
40 to 120 head	1 goat
121 to 200 head	2 goats
201 to 299 head	3 goats
300 to 399 head	4 goats
400 to 499 head	5 goats, and so on

Note: if the number of goats exceeds the figures above, then the rule is that for every 100 goats the zakat is 1 goat

Zakat on Mixed Animals

What is meant by mixed animals is animals owned by two owners and combined into one, which is treated in the same way as animals owned by a single owner, on condition that:

The pen is combined into one
The herder is one person
The grazing place is one place
The milking place is one
The watering place is one place

For example: Abdullah owns 60 goats and Ahmad owns 60 goats, the total of their goats is 120 goats.

Then the zakat paid out on behalf of both of them is 1 goat; if separated, each of them would be obligated to pay out 1 goat

That is a discussion of the nishab for camels, the nishab for goats, the nishab for cattle and buffalo, and the nishab for mixed animals for zakat on livestock.

Read related articles:

Loading the full version…