Akula (a fattened sheep kept for eating)

Akula is, in the lexical sense, an intensive form meaning one who eats a great deal, and it can also mean a thing that is eaten. ¹ The hadith forbidding the collector to take an akula from the livestock in charity has been read as a sheep kept apart for eating and fattened, or as the castrated, aged, barren and ram of a man's flock. ¹ In fiqh it is a sheep fattened for meat, male or female; the term is also used of a woman who eats a great deal. ¹

Rabbi is a ewe reared for milk, and it is among the choicest property like the akula. ²

The jurists agree that the zakat collector may not take an akula from the sheep, since it is among the choicest property; Mu'adh was told to beware of the choicest property when sent to Yemen. ² If all the flock is of the best quality the jurists differ: some require an akula, others accept a middling animal. ²