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Zakaah on 200 camels

Question

What is the zakah for a person who has 200 camels?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The zakaah on two hundred camels is five she-camels in their third year (Bint Laboon) or four she-camels in their fourth year (Hiqqah) because if the number of camels exceeds one hundred and twenty, their zakaah is one Bint Laboon for each forty or one Hiqqah for each fifty camels. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "If they exceed one hundred and twenty, a Bint Laboon is due for every forty and a Hiqqah is due for every fifty." [Al-Bukhaari and others]

The Arabic word "Bint Laboon" used in the hadeeth means a two-year-old she-camel in its third year, and the word "Hiqqah" means a three-year-old she-camel in its fourth year.

The zakaah collector (the worker employed to collect the zakaah), if any is appointed, is the one who should determine whether the zakaah on the camels should be five Bint Laboon or four Hiqqah. The Maaliki Fiqh book Irshaad As-Saalik reads, "The zakaah on the two hundred camels is four Hiqqah or five Bint Laboon, and it is to be decided by the zakaah collector or rather by the owner if there is no zakaah collector appointed. If there is an appointed zakaah worker, the owner has no say in this regard."

This is if the camels are freely grazed in open fields during the greater part of the year. However, if the camels are given feed by its owner for most of the year, then they are not subject to zakaah on animals (but could be suject to zakaah on articles of merchandise if they are tradeable items), according to the majority of the scholars, contrary to the Maalikis, who held that camels are liable for zakaah regardless of whether they are freely grazed in open or stall-fed in private fields.

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 18856.

Allah knows best.

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