Muwatta Malik (Yahya)

Hazrat Sufyan bin Abdullah was sent by Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) as a collector (i.e., one who collects zakat), so he used to count the kids among the goats as well. The people said: You include the kids in the count but you do not take the kid. So when he came to Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), he mentioned this matter to him. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Yes, we count the kids, even the kid whom the shepherd carries and walks with, but we do not take it, nor do we take the fat goat which is fattened for eating.

And Malik said: Regarding a man who has sheep for which zakat is not obligatory, then they give birth before the zakat collector comes by even one day, and by their birth they reach the amount for which zakat is obligatory.

Malik said: If the sheep, by their offspring, reach the amount for which zakat is obligatory, then zakat is due on them. That is because the birth of the sheep is from them. And that is different from what is acquired by purchase, gift, or inheritance. And likewise, merchandise: its value does not reach the amount for which zakat is obligatory, then its owner sells it and by its profit it reaches the amount for which zakat is obligatory. So he pays zakat on its profit along with the principal. But if its profit was an acquisition or inheritance, then zakat is not obligatory on it until a year passes from the day he acquired or inherited it.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: If a person has goats less than the nisab, and one day before the collector comes, those goats give birth and the nisab is completed, then zakat will be obligatory on him, because the offspring are included among the goats. And this issue is contrary to the issue where a person has goats less than the nisab, then due to purchase, inheritance, or gift, more goats come to him. A similar example is that a person has some goods whose value is less than the nisab, then he sells them with such a profit that it reaches the nisab, so zakat will be obligatory on the profit along with the principal. And if the profit comes to him as a gift or inheritance, then zakat will not be obligatory until a year passes over it or by the force of inheritance.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: One hundred baby goats are included among the goats, just as the profit of wealth is included in that wealth.

And not the goat that is nursing its kid, nor the pregnant one, nor the male, and we take a goat of one or two years that is average—not a kid, nor old, nor very excellent.