Is zakat due on trade goods?

Zakat on trade goods is one of the best-known points on which Ibn Hazm departs from the majority of jurists on zakat: in al-Muhalla he reports that Abu Hanifa, Malik and al-Shafi'i, in one of his two views, require it, while he holds that zakat is due only on eight kinds of wealth named in the Sunna, and that goods are not among them, whether held for trade or not. ^{1 2 4}

Ibn Hazm lays down that zakat is due only on eight kinds: gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates, camels, cattle, and sheep and goats; there is no disagreement among Muslims, he says, that it is due on these, the Sunna came with them, and they differed over everything else. ¹ He then denies zakat on all other fruits, crops and minerals, on horses, slaves and honey, and on trade goods, whether the trader turns his stock over or not, noting that all agree there is no zakat on what is acquired for keeping, such as gems, clothes, vessels, weapons, houses and estates. ⁵

He sets out their disagreement on crops: al-Shafi'i requires zakat on whatever bread or porridge is made from, but not on what is eaten as fruit; Malik on wheat, barley, sult, 'alas, millet, rice, sorghum, sesame, pulses, raisins and olive oil; Abu Hanifa on everything the earth grows except firewood, reeds and grass; while Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan exempt vegetables and fruit and require it on a list of other kinds. ^{5 6 7} He points out that Dawud ibn 'Ali and most of his own Zahiri school held zakat due on everything the earth grows and every fruit, measurable produce from five wasqs upward and unmeasurable produce in any amount, a view reported from Mujahid, Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and Ibrahim al-Nakha'i. ^{8 9} On this question Ibn Hazm thus also departs from the founder of his own school.

Ibn Hazm reports that Abu Hanifa, Malik and al-Shafi'i, in one of his two views, required zakat on goods held for trade. ^{2 4} They argued from Samura ibn Jundab's report that the Prophet ﷺ ordered them to pay the alms on what they prepared for sale; from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd al-Qari's report that 'Umar, when the stipends were paid out, gathered the merchants' wealth, reckoned it, present and absent, and took the zakat; from Abu Qilaba's report that 'Umar's officials complained to him of the severity of the valuation and he told them to lighten it; and from Abu 'Amr ibn Himas's report from his father that 'Umar ordered him to value his quivers and hides and pay their zakat. ⁴ They also cited Ibn 'Abbas: there is no harm in waiting until he sells, and the zakat is due on it; Ibn 'Umar: there is no zakat on goods unless they are for trade; and the principle that zakat is laid on wealth that grows. ¹⁰ The editors note that Ibn Hajar and al-Albani found unknown men in the chain of Samura's report. ⁴

Ibn Hazm holds that Samura's report is worthless, since all its transmitters between Sulayman ibn Musa and Samura are unknown, and that even if sound it would not show that the alms in it is the obligatory zakat, for had the Prophet meant that he would have stated its time, amount and manner; he pairs it with the hadith "O merchants, selling is attended by idle talk and oaths, so mix it with charity", and takes it as an unfixed charity atoning for what taints trade. ^{10 11} He weakens the Himas report because Abu 'Amr ibn Himas and his father are unknown, relating that when Malik was told of it from Yahya ibn Sa'id he said "Yahya is a gatherer of scraps", meaning that he relates from people of no standing; he takes Abu Qilaba's report as broken, since Abu Qilaba never met 'Umar, and al-Qari's report as silent about goods, since merchants also held gold and silver on which zakat is due. ¹¹ He explains Ibn 'Abbas's saying by Ibn 'Abbas's known view that zakat is due on newly acquired wealth when it is acquired, accepts Ibn 'Umar's saying as sound but holds that no one's word below the Prophet's is proof, and notes that the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is themselves departed from what is reported from 'Umar and his son in the details of this very question. ^{11 12}

Ibn Hazm says the Prophet is soundly reported to have said what shows there is no zakat on trade goods: he exempted less than five uqiyas of silver, five camels, forty sheep and five wasqs of dates and grain, so whoever requires zakat on goods requires it on everything the Prophet exempted. ³ He also said, "There is no alms on a Muslim for his slave or his horse except the alms of the fast-breaking", and "I have forgiven the alms of horses", and when asked about donkeys said nothing had been revealed to him on them except the comprehensive verse; had there been zakat on goods held for trade, he would have made it clear. ^{3 13} He concludes that the text establishes no zakat on horses, slaves, donkeys and what is below the minimum, and that there is consensus that every trade good has the same ruling as these, so that in his view there is no zakat on trade goods. ¹³ He finds an inconsistency in those who exempt goods bought for keeping and later intended for trade, since the value of goods kept for use grows just as that of trade goods does. ¹⁴

The schools' views are given only as Ibn Hazm reports them; they have not yet been added from the schools' own books, nor the Hanbali view, nor how those who require it value the goods.