Musnad Ahmad

Muslim bin Thafnah says that once Ibn Alqamah appointed my father as the chief of his tribe and ordered him to collect zakat from the people. My father sent me to some people so that I could collect zakat from them and bring it back. I left the house and reached an extremely elderly man whose name was Sa’r, and said to him that my father had sent me to collect zakat of goats from you. He said: Nephew, how do you collect zakat? I said, we select and take a goat, to the extent that sometimes we even determine the proportion of the goat’s udders by the span of a hand. He said: Nephew, let me tell you a hadith. In the blessed era of the Prophet (ﷺ), I was with my goats in one of these valleys. Two men came to me on a camel and said, “We are both messengers of the Prophet (ﷺ). Please pay the zakat of your goats.” I asked them how much zakat is obligatory on me. They replied, “One goat.” Hearing this, I went towards a goat whose value only I knew; it was full of milk and meat. I brought out that goat and presented it to them. They said, “This goat is about to give birth, and the Prophet (ﷺ) has forbidden us from taking such a goat.” I asked, “Then which goat should I bring?” They replied, “A six-month-old kid or a one-year-old goat.” So I brought before them a goat that had not yet given birth, and in fact, its own birth had taken place not long ago. When I brought out that goat, they said, “Give us this goat.” So I gave them that goat, and they took it away on their camel.