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Anam (livestock: camels, cattle and sheep, and their rulings)

الأنعام

Anam is lexically the plural of ni'm, meaning camels, cattle and sheep, and most often camels. For the jurists, the anam are camels, cattle and sheep, so called for the abundance of God's favour in them: growth, birth, milk, wool, hair and general benefit. 1 Zakat is due on livestock once it reaches the nisab, by agreement of the jurists. 1 Only livestock may be offered as hadi, sacrifice or aqiqa, and the best hadi is a camel, then a cow, then a sheep. 1 Livestock may be slaughtered and eaten in the sanctuary and outside it, and during ihram, unlike game; the best method is to slaughter camels by nahr and cattle and sheep by dhabh. 2

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
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Animals and mercy

Definition

Anam is lexically the plural of ni'm, meaning camels, cattle and sheep, and most often camels. For the jurists it is camels, cattle and sheep, so called for the abundance of God's favour in them: growth, birth, milk, wool, hair and general benefit. 1

Rulings

  • Zakat: due on livestock once it reaches the nisab, by agreement of the jurists. 1
  • Hadi, sacrifice and aqiqa: only livestock may be offered; the best hadi is a camel, then a cow, then a sheep. 1
  • Slaughter and eating: livestock may be slaughtered and eaten in the sanctuary, outside it, and in ihram, unlike wild game. 2
  • Method: the best slaughter is nahr for camels and dhabh for cattle and sheep. 2
  • Related zakat matters include branding the camels of charity and the option to return a tasriya animal, held by some jurists. 2

People and things also explored

Awqas (the gaps between the prescribed amounts of zakat on camels, cattle and sheep, and whether zakat is due on them)· Hatma' (a sacrificial animal with its front teeth gone: its fitness)· Hawam (creeping things: their sale, eating and killing)· Hirr (the cat: purity, sale, damage and eating)· Ihab (the hide of an animal, its purity and tanning, and the rules on killing or selling animals for their hides)· Insects (hasharat)· Inzaa' (the covering of female animals by males, and its rulings)· Dog (kalb), fiqh rulings

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3508
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3509
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Anam (livestock: camels, cattle and sheep, and their rulings)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/anam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Awqas (the gaps between the prescribed amounts of zakat on camels, cattle and sheep, and whether zakat is due on them)

Awqas are the plural of waqs, the gap between two prescribed amounts in zakat on camels, cattle and sheep. Ashnaq and afw are the same sense, and some jurists restrict shanaq to camels and waqs to cattle and sheep. The gaps in camels are of five ranks, those in cattle are of two counts, and those in sheep are of three ranks beginning at eighty. By agreement no zakat is due on the gaps in sheep. The jurists differ on zakat on the gaps in camels: the Hanafis (Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf), the Malikis in one view and al-Shafi'i in the older view deny it, while Muhammad, Zufar, the Malikis in their later view and al-Shafi'i in another report affirm it. On the gap in cattle between forty and sixty, the majority hold no zakat is due, while Abu Hanifa has three views, one counting by proportion.