Chapter on Zakat of Gold

As for that which indicates that zakat is only obligatory in it when it is minted, it is what has been narrated (in the following hadith):

And along with their being minted, it is considered that they must be engraved, because that which is not engraved follows the course of an ‘ingot’ (al-sabikah) and pieces of silver or gold (al-niqar). And what indicates that is what has been narrated (in the following hadith):

As for jewellery, there is no zakat in any of it, even if it is abundant. What indicates that is what has been narrated (in the following hadith):

As for that which indicates that whenever he fled with it from zakat, zakat becomes binding upon him, it is what has been narrated (in the following hadith):

Thus, it is not contrary to what we have mentioned, because the jewellery for which zakat becomes obligatory as a punishment is when he makes it into jewellery after the time of zakat has become due. As for that for which zakat does not become obligatory upon him, it is when he makes it into jewellery at the beginning of the year or before zakat becomes obligatory on it, and then the situation continues as such. And Imam عليه السلام, peace be upon him, only said: “What he has brought upon himself is greater than what he fears of zakat,” meaning what he misses of deserving the reward which, if he had left the wealth as it was until the time of zakat and had not intended thereby to flee from it, he would have deserved by taking zakat out of it. And what indicates this meaning is what he narrated (in the following hadith):

No one may say that this interpretation is impossible, because the first two reports state that the questioner asked about ‘jewellery and whether zakat is due on it’, and the Imam عليه السلام said to him: “No, except that by which he fled from zakat.” As for what he turns into jewellery after the time of zakat has already become due, zakat did not become obligatory on it because it is jewellery; rather, it had already become obligatory before it was made into jewellery. Therefore, there is no issue in excluding some jewellery from the general ruling. When the questioner asked about ‘jewellery and whether zakat is due on it’. And the Imam عليه السلام said: “No,” this would normally require that everything called jewellery is exempt from zakat, whether it was fashioned before the zakat year became complete or after it. So the Imam عليه السلام intended by the exception to specify one part of the general category: namely, jewellery that was fashioned after zakat had already become due, as we have already mentioned. And as for what he narrated (in the following hadith):

Thus, there is no contradiction between this report and what we have already stated, namely that the minimum threshold (nisab) is twenty dinars. This is because the Imam عليه السلام only informed him of the value at that time, and at that time the value of one dinar was ten dirhams. Do you not see that in many places concerning blood-money payments (diyat) and other matters, they considered ten dirhams to be equivalent to one dinar, and they made the choice between the two equal? The ruling of this report is the same, because the value of two hundred dirhams amounts to twenty dinars, according to what we have already stated. And as for what he narrated (in the following hadith):

The saying of the Imam عليه السلام: “There is nothing on less than forty mithqals,” may mean that by ‘something’ he intended one dinar, because the word ‘something’ may refer to a dinar, to more than a dinar, or to less than a dinar. It is therefore a general and ambiguous expression that requires clarification. Since we have narrated the detailed hadiths stating that in every twenty dinars there is half a dinar, and in whatever exceeds that, for every four dinars there is one-tenth of a dinar, we interpret the saying of the Imam عليه السلام: “There is nothing on less than forty mithqals,” as meaning that he intended one dinar. This is because whenever the amount is less than forty, what becomes obligatory on it is less than one dinar. As for the saying of the Imam عليه السلام at the beginning of the report: “In every forty mithqals there is one mithqal,” there is no contradiction between it and what we have said, because according to us, one dinar does become obligatory on forty mithqals, even though this is not the first minimum threshold (nisab). So when we interpret this report according to what we have explained, we have reconciled these reports in a way that leaves no contradiction between them.