Zakat on Cattle and Buffaloes: Thresholds and Juristic Disagreements

1. Cattle Zakat: The Threshold System

Zakat on cattle depends on both the number of animals and the prescribed age category of the due animal. Unlike camel zakat, its first livestock threshold is 30 head of cattle.

At 30, a tabi‘ or tabi‘ah is due; at 40, a musinn or musinnah. The central disagreement concerns increases beyond 40 but short of 60. Beyond 60, the schedule progresses through groups of 30 and 40.

2. The First Threshold: Thirty Cattle

بَابُ صَدَقَةِ الْبَقَرِ. لَيْسَ فِي أَقَلَّ مِنْ ثَلَاثِينَ مِنَ الْبَقَرِ صَدَقَةٌ.
Translation: Chapter: Zakat on Cattle. No cattle zakat is due on fewer than thirty head of cattle.

The opening statement sets the cattle-livestock threshold at 30. Possession of 29 animals alone does not incur zakat under this specific livestock schedule; at 30, the other legal conditions must still be met.

The discussion concerns grazing livestock. Animals held as inventory for trade fall under the separate rules for trade goods and should not be assessed by simply copying the livestock schedule.

3. Grazing Status and Completion of a Year

Two conditions are specifically stated alongside the number: sa’imah (grazing livestock) and completion of a qualifying year. Grazing status concerns the usual mode of keeping the animals for most of the year; hawl is the qualifying lunar year.

For example, 32 cattle fall in the first numerical bracket, but actual liability still depends on relevant ownership, grazing and annual conditions. The bracket table and the conditions of liability are distinct.

4. Thirty Through Thirty-Nine: Tabi‘ or Tabi‘ah

فَإِذَا كَانَتْ ثَلَاثِينَ سَائِمَةً، وَحَالَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ: فَفِيهَا تَبِيعٌ أَوْ تَبِيعَةٌ.
Translation: When there are thirty grazing cattle and their year has elapsed, one tabi‘ or tabi‘ah is due.

At 30 grazing cattle, one tabi‘ (male) or one tabi‘ah (female) is due. Both sexes are expressly mentioned, so either is admitted within the designated age category.

Counts of 31 through 39 remain in the same first bracket; a different age category becomes due on reaching 40.

5. Age of Tabi‘ and Tabi‘ah

A tabi‘ is a male calf that has completed one year and entered its second; a tabi‘ah is a female of the same age. These are defined age classes, not generic terms for any young calf.

Thus, selection of the due animal requires the prescribed age as well as the permitted sex. The same distinction governs the 40-cattle bracket.

6. Forty Cattle: Musinn or Musinnah

وَفِي أَرْبَعِينَ: مُسِنٌّ أَوْ مُسِنَّةٌ.
Translation: And at forty cattle, one musinn or musinnah is due.

At 40 cattle, the due animal is a musinn (male) or musinnah (female), each having completed two years and entered the third.

Thus, 39 cattle call for a tabi‘ or tabi‘ah, while 40 shift the requirement to an older age class. This is a transition between legal brackets, not simply a proportional monetary increase.

7. Comparing the First Two Brackets

1–29 cattle: no zakat under this livestock schedule.
30–39: one tabi‘/tabi‘ah, aged one year completed.
40: one musinn/musinnah, aged two years completed.

For increases above 40 and below 60, jurists differ. It would misrepresent the entire Hanafi discussion to give that range an unqualified single ruling.

8. Abu Hanifah’s Rule for Extra Cattle

فَإِذَا زَادَتْ عَلَى الْأَرْبَعِينَ: وَجَبَ فِي الزِّيَادَةِ بِقَدْرِ ذَلِكَ إِلَى سِتِّينَ عِنْدَ أَبِي حَنِيفَةَ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ، فَفِي الْوَاحِدَةِ: رُبْعُ عُشْرِ مُسِنَّةٍ، وَفِي الِاثْنَتَيْنِ: نِصْفُ عُشْرِ مُسِنَّةٍ، وَفِي الثَّلَاثِ: ثَلَاثَةُ أَرْبَاعِ عُشْرِ مُسِنَّةٍ.
Translation: When cattle increase beyond forty, Abu Hanifah holds that zakat accrues proportionately on the increase until sixty: one additional cow entails one fortieth of a musinnah, two entail two fortieths, and three entail three fortieths.

According to Abu Hanifah, an increase above 40 but below 60 is not wholly ignored: an additional proportional share of a musinnah becomes due for each added cow.

Rub‘ ‘ushr means a quarter of one tenth, i.e. one fortieth. Accordingly, two extra cattle give two fortieths and three give three fortieths of a musinnah.

9. Explaining the Fractional Wording

Rub‘ ‘ushr of a musinnah = 1/40 of its value/share.
Nisf ‘ushr = 1/20, or 2/40.
Three quarters of one tenth = 3/40.

These are proportional additions beyond the main musinnah due at 40; they do not mean another entire musinnah becomes due at 41. The ordinary rules for valuing and discharging fractions may be relevant in practice.

10. Worked Examples: 41, 42, 43 Cattle

41 cattle: the musinn/musinnah of the 40 bracket, plus 1/40 of a musinnah for the increase.
42: the same basic due amount, plus 2/40.
43: the same basic due amount, plus 3/40.

This calculation follows the reported view of Abu Hanifah. It should not be confused with the view of Abu Yusuf and Muhammad, who do not assess the increase before 60.

11. Example: A Herd of Fifty

Forty cattle require one musinn or musinnah. At 50 cattle, ten are above the 40-animal threshold, so Abu Hanifah’s proportional rule adds 10/40, or one quarter, of a musinnah.

This is an application of the stated principle, not a new full musinnah assigned to a separate 50-cattle bracket. The issue concerns the basis for taxing intermediate increments.

12. Abu Yusuf and Muhammad: No Extra Due Before Sixty

وَقَالَ أَبُو يُوسُفَ وَمُحَمَّدٌ رَحِمَهُمَا اللَّهُ: لَا شَيْءَ فِي الزِّيَادَةِ حَتَّى تَبْلُغَ سِتِّينَ، فَيَكُونُ فِيهَا: تَبِيعَانِ أَوْ تَبِيعَتَانِ،
Translation: Abu Yusuf and Muhammad say that nothing is due on the increase until sixty; at sixty, two tabi‘ or two tabi‘ah are due.

Abu Yusuf and Muhammad hold that the increase above 40 is not separately assessed until the herd reaches 60. Thus 41, 50 and 59 retain the due musinn/musinnah of the 40 bracket under their view.

At 60, the obligation becomes two tabi‘ or two tabi‘ah. The source commentary also reports this view as a narration from Abu Hanifah.

13. Evidence for Exempt Intermediate Increments

The source commentary cites a report concerning Mu‘adh:
لَا تَأْخُذْ مِنْ أَوْقَاصِ الْبَقَرِ شَيْئًا
Translation: Do not collect anything from the intermediate increments of cattle.

Awqas are the gaps between prescribed zakat thresholds. Abu Yusuf and Muhammad treat the increase above forty but below sixty as one such interval, hence exempt from an additional due amount.

14. Abu Hanifah’s Juristic Reasoning

Abu Hanifah’s reasoning treats an additional portion of qualifying wealth as normally assessable unless a clear basis establishes exemption. He therefore apportions an added share for each extra cow.

Abu Yusuf and Muhammad invoke the evidence about awqas to exempt intermediate increases. This is not merely a disagreement about calculation: the legal question is whether the interval between 40 and 60 is exempt at all.

15. Comparison of the Two Views: 41–59

41 cattle: Abu Hanifah adds 1/40 of a musinnah to the normal due animal; Abu Yusuf and Muhammad add nothing.

50: Abu Hanifah adds a quarter-musinnah proportion; the two disciples retain only the normal due animal.

59: Abu Hanifah adds 19/40; the disciples retain the baseline obligation. At 60, the named threshold requires two tabi‘/tabi‘ah.

16. Sixty Cattle: Two Tabi‘

At 60 cattle, two tabi‘ or tabi‘ah are due, each in its second year. The one musinnah of the previous bracket is not simply added to a new animal; this is a new scheduled assessment.

Sixty is 30 + 30, with one tabi‘/tabi‘ah for each group. The same 30/40 building blocks explain later thresholds.

17. Seventy Cattle: Musinnah Plus Tabi‘

وَفِي سَبْعِينَ: مُسِنَّةٌ وَتَبِيعٌ،
Translation: At seventy cattle, one musinnah and one tabi‘ are due.

70 = 40 + 30, so one musinnah and one tabi‘ are due. These belong to different age classes: two completed years and one completed year, respectively.

The scheduled animals define the due categories; they are not an unrestricted allowance to provide any two cattle of any age.

18. Eighty Cattle: Two Musinnah

وَفِي ثَمَانِينَ: مُسِنَّتَانِ،
Translation: At eighty cattle, two musinnah are due.

80 = 40 + 40; each forty-animal component calls for one musinnah, so two musinnah are due.

The number of due animals remains two from 70 to 80, but their required age categories change. Merely saying “two cattle” would omit the legally specified type.

19. Ninety Cattle: Three Tabi‘

وَفِي تِسْعِينَ: ثَلَاثَةُ أَتْبِعَةٍ،
Translation: At ninety cattle, three tabi‘ are due.

90 = 30 + 30 + 30; hence three tabi‘ are due, one for each thirty-animal component.

The progression is not a simple ladder of increasingly older animals at every ten-cow threshold. Instead, the obligation is recalculated using groups of thirty and forty.

20. One Hundred Cattle: Two Tabi‘ and One Musinnah

وَفِي مِائَةٍ: تَبِيعَانِ وَمُسِنَّةٌ.
Translation: At one hundred cattle, two tabi‘ and one musinnah are due.

100 = 30 + 30 + 40; therefore two tabi‘ and one musinnah are due. This is the final specifically numbered threshold in the chapter’s main text.

At 100, there are three due animals, but not three tabi‘: two are tabi‘ and one is musinnah.

21. Why the Schedule Changes Every Ten

وَعَلَى هَذَا يَتَغَيَّرُ الْفَرْضُ فِي كُلِّ عَشْرٍ مِنْ تَبِيعٍ إِلَى مُسِنَّةٍ.
Translation: On this basis, the prescribed due amount changes at each ten-cattle increment from tabi‘ to musinnah.

The thirty- and forty-animal units underpin the higher brackets: at 60, two tabi‘; at 70, one musinnah and one tabi‘; at 80, two musinnah; at 90, three tabi‘; at 100, two tabi‘ and one musinnah.

The obligation changes not because the age of every due animal must continuously increase, but because the number and combination of tabi‘ and musinnah alter with the valid partition into 30s and 40s.

22. Applying the Rule at 110 and 120

110 = 40 + 40 + 30; the calculation yields two musinnah and one tabi‘.

120 = 40 + 40 + 40 or 30 + 30 + 30 + 30, giving the recognized pattern of three musinnah or four tabi‘.

These two numeric outcomes apply the general thirty/forty-unit principle. The main text explicitly names thresholds through 100 before giving its general rule.

23. Cattle and Buffaloes Share the Ruling

وَالْجَوَامِيسُ وَالْبَقَرُ سَوَاءٌ.
Translation: And buffaloes and cattle are equal in this ruling.

Buffaloes and cattle are equal for this livestock-zakat schedule; buffaloes are not assigned a different starting threshold.

Accordingly, the age-class requirement at 30 and 40 applies to qualifying grazing buffaloes as it does to cattle. Their status as livestock rather than trading stock remains a separate consideration.

24. Key Terminology

Baqar: cattle; jawamis: buffaloes.

Tabi‘/tabi‘ah: male/female cattle after one completed year. Musinn/musinnah: male/female cattle after two completed years.

Sa’imah: livestock predominantly maintained by grazing. Hawl: the relevant lunar year. Awqas: increments between zakat thresholds. Rub‘ ‘ushr: one quarter of one tenth, or 1/40.

25. Complete Bracket Summary

1–29: nothing. 30–39: one tabi‘/tabi‘ah. 40: one musinn/musinnah.

41–59: Abu Hanifah adds 1/40 musinnah per extra cow; Abu Yusuf and Muhammad exempt the increment before 60.

60: two tabi‘. 70: musinnah + tabi‘. 80: two musinnah. 90: three tabi‘. 100: two tabi‘ + musinnah.

The other conditions, including grazing status and completion of the annual period, remain applicable.