❖ Zakat on Cows: Nisab, Hadith Evidence, and Scholarly Consensus ❖
✍ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
✿ Introduction
Zakat on cows is clearly established through authentic Ahadith and supported by the consensus of the scholars. The rulings define how much Zakat is due, based on the number of cows owned, and which animals are to be given in Zakat.
❖ Zakat Schedule on Cows
وَيَجِبُ فِي ثَلَاثِينَ مِنَ الْبَقَرِ تَبِيعٌ أَوْ تَبِيْعَةٌ، وَفِي أَرْبَعِينَ مُسِنَّةٌ، ثُمَّ كَذَلِكَ
Translation:
Zakat on cows is due as follows:
➊ On 30 cows ➝ 1 Tabi‘ or Tabi‘ah (1-year-old male or female calf)
➋ On 40 cows ➝ 1 Musinnah (2-year-old bull or cow)
Then the same pattern continues proportionally.
❖ Definitions of Zakatable Animals
✔ Tabiʿ (تبیع):
A male calf that has completed one year and entered the second. Called “Tabiʿ” because it begins to follow its mother.
✔ Tabiʿah (تبیعة):
The female counterpart of Tabiʿ.
✔ Musinnah (مسنّة):
An animal that has two permanent teeth, i.e., it has completed two years and entered its third.
References: [Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/297; al-Taʿlīqāt al-Raḍiyyah ʿalā al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 1/494]
❖ Evidence from Hadith
➊ Severe Warning for Not Paying Zakat
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“No owner of cows or sheep who does not pay their due Zakat will escape, but on the Day of Resurrection, he will be thrown down on a flat plain…”
(Muslim: 987 – Kitāb al-Zakāh: Chapter on Sin of the One Who Withholds Zakat)
Imām al-Nawawī رحمه الله said:
“This is the most authentic Hadith regarding Zakat on cows.”
[Sharḥ Muslim: 4/76]
➋ Hadith of Muʿādh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه
When the Prophet ﷺ sent Muʿādh to Yemen, he instructed:
“Take one Tabiʿ or Tabiʿah from every 30 cows, and one Musinnah from every 40.”
References:
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 795; Aḥmad: 5/230; Abū Dāwūd: 1578; Tirmidhī: 623; Nasā’ī: 5/25; Ibn Mājah: 1803; Ḥākim: 1/398]
✔ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī رحمه الله wrote:
“This Hadith proves the obligation of Zakat on cows, and the Nisab is clearly stated in it.”
[Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/297]
✔ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله said:
“There is no disagreement among the scholars that the Sunnah regarding cow Zakat is exactly as narrated in the Hadith of Muʿādh.”
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/87; Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr: 2/300]
✔ Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī stated:
“Zakat on cows is an established Sunnah and proven by Ijmaʿ (consensus).”
[Fiqh al-Zakāh: 1/192]
❖ What About Buffaloes?
Ibn al-Mundhir رحمه الله and other jurists hold that:
Buffaloes fall under the same ruling as cows, as they are one category of bovine animals.
[Al-Mughnī: 2/594; Fiqh al-Zakāh: 1/192]
