Zakat on Buffaloes and Scholarly Consensus on Their Obligation

Reviewing the rulings and issues of fiqh and fatwas, as well as the history of the era of the Tabi‘in and subsequent periods, it is evident that just like cows, zakat on buffaloes has also been obligatory and has been paid and collected. The ruling on cows and buffaloes has been the same; no distinction has been made between them in any issue. Let us observe some narrations from the Salaf and a few statements of the scholars regarding this matter:
(1) Hasan Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, says:

الجواميس بمنزلة البقر [

The author of Kitab Abwanas, Sayyid ibn Rajab, states: “This is a suspended (mursal) narration; Imam Abu Ubaidah did not mention the intermediary between himself and Ash‘ath, and I do not know that anyone has narrated it as a connected (muttasil) report.”
Buffaloes are in the same category as cows.

(2) It is narrated from Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, that he wrote:

أن تؤخذ صدقة الجواميس كما تؤخذ صدقة البقر [

The investigator of the book Abwans, Sayyid ibn Rajab, states: The chain is weak, in its chain there is a narrator named Abdullah ibn Salih who is weak. Also see: Amwal, by Ibn Zanjawih Nabat:

Also observe the statement of Imam Qasim ibn Salam, may Allah have mercy on him:

Just as zakat is taken on cows, zakat should also be taken on buffaloes.

(3) Yunus ibn Yazid al-Ali, may Allah have mercy on him, says:

وتحسب الجواميس مع البقر

Buffaloes will be counted along with cows.

(4) Imam Dar al-Hijrah and Malik ibn Anas, may Allah have mercy on them, say:

الجواميس والبمر سواء ، والبحاني من الإبل وعرابها سواء

Buffaloes and cows are the same, and camels of the Bedouins and city dwellers are the same.

Also, in Al-Muwatta, it is stated:

وكذلك البقر والجواميس ، تجمع فى الصدقة على ربه ، وقال : إنما هي بقر كلها

Similarly, cows and buffaloes will be gathered from their owners for zakat, and it is stated: In reality, all of these are cows.

(5) Imam Muhammad ibn Idris Al-Shafi’i, may Allah have mercy on him, says:

ونصدق الجواميس مع البقر والدربانية

And we pay the zakat of buffaloes along with cows and Darbaniyyah.

(6) Allama Ibn Hazm, may Allah have mercy on him, states in his renowned book Al-Muhalli:

مسألة : الجواميس صنف من البقر يضم بعضها إلى بعض

The issue is that buffaloes are a type of cow; for zakat, both will be combined.

(7) Also, refuting those who consider the obligation of Zakat on buffaloes as “Qiyas” (analogy), he writes:

وهذا شعب فاسد لأن الجواميس نوع من أنواع البقر ، وقد جاء النص بإيجاب الزكاة فى البقر ، والزكاة فى الجواميس لأنها بقر؛ واسم البقر يقع عليها ولولا ذلك ما وجدت فيها زكاة

This is a very bad matter; because buffaloes are a type of cow, and there is a text regarding the obligation of Zakat on cows, and Zakat on buffaloes is because they are cows; and the name of cow is established for them. If it were otherwise, then there would be no Zakat on buffaloes.

(8) Allama Ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisi, may Allah have mercy on him, says:

مسألة : قال : والجواميس كغيرها من البقر لا خلاف فى هذا نعلمه . . . لأن الجواميس من أنواع البقر ، كما أن البحاني من أنواع الإبل

Issue: “Buffaloes are like other cows.” To our knowledge, there is no disagreement on this… and also because buffaloes are a type of cow, just as Banati is a type of camel.

(9) Allama Ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisi, may Allah have mercy on him, states in “Al-Kafi”:

الجواميس نوع من البقر ، والبخاتي نوع من الإبل ، والضأن والمعز جنس واحد

Buffaloes are a type of cow, and Banati is a type of camel, and bull and goat are of the same genus.

(10) Allama Muhammad Al-Amin Al-Shanqeeti, may Allah have mercy on him, says:

وأحق بالبقر الجواميس ، والإبل تشمل العراب والبحاني

Buffaloes have been included along with cows, and camels include both the Arabian and Khorasani types.

(11) The well-known Saudi Arabian jurist and Mufti Allama Wafahama Muhammad bin Salih Al-Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him, says:

وأما البقر أيضا فتشمل البقر المعتادة ، والجواميس

As for the issue of cows and bulls: it includes both ordinary cows and buffaloes.

(12) Regarding Zakat on buffaloes, the fatwa of Allama Al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him:
His student Sheikh Hussain bin ‘Awdat Al-‘Awayshah says:

وسئل شيخنا رحمه الله : هل فى الجاموس زكاة ؟ فأجاب : نعم فى الجاموس زكاة لأنه نوع من أنواع البقر

Our Sheikh Allama Al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him [by our Sheikh we mean Allama Al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him, as the author clarified in the introduction, see:

] was asked: Is there Zakat on buffaloes? He replied: Yes, there is Zakat on buffaloes because it is one of the types of cows.

(13) Sheikh Abu Malik Kamal bin Al-Sayyid Salim says:

وهذا العدد يجمع فيه الجاموس إلى البقر ، لأن الجاموس صنف من البقر بالإجماع فينضم إليه

And in this number of cows, buffaloes will be counted together with cows, because the buffalo is a type of cow; therefore, it will be included with the cow.
In short, the statements of the scholars regarding the obligation of zakat on buffaloes are countless.