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

الأوقاص

Awqas are the plural of waqs, the gap between two prescribed amounts in zakat on camels, cattle and sheep. ¹ Ashnaq and afw are the same sense, and some jurists restrict shanaq to camels and waqs to cattle and sheep. ² 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. ²³⁴ By agreement no zakat is due on the gaps in sheep. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁶⁵

Definition

Awqas are the plural of waqs, the gap between two prescribed amounts in zakat on camels, cattle and sheep; in lexicon waqs also means a short neck. ¹

Related terms

Ashnaq: the gap between two prescribed amounts; some jurists restrict shanaq to camels and waqs to cattle and sheep. ²
Afw: the same gap, named for being pardoned from zakat. ²

Ranks of the gaps

Camels: five ranks, among them the four between five and ten, the ten between the bint makhad and the bint labun, and the nine between the bint labun and the hiqqa. ²³
Cattle: two counts, the nine between thirty and forty, and the nineteen between forty and sixty. ³
Sheep: three ranks, beginning with eighty, then seventy-nine, then ninety-nine. ³⁴

Zakat on the gaps

Sheep: no zakat is due on the gaps, by agreement. ⁵
Camels: the Hanafis (Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf), the older view of al-Shafi'i and one Maliki view deny zakat; Muhammad, Zufar, the preferred Maliki view and a report of al-Shafi'i affirm it. ⁶
Cattle between forty and sixty: the majority hold no zakat is due; Abu Hanifa has three reports, one counting the excess in proportion, and one making nothing due until fifty. ⁶⁵

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3686

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3687

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3688

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3691

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3690

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3689

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

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. Zakat is due on livestock once it reaches the nisab, by agreement of the jurists. Only livestock may be offered as hadi, sacrifice or aqiqa, and the best hadi is a camel, then a cow, then a sheep. 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.