the abbasìd’s golden age 191ining the base and rate of tax, Abù-Yùsuf, reiterated the rules of
the Sharì"ah which have been established in the Qur"àn and laid
down in the Sunnah. A threshold is given and a form of a near
proportionate rate is applied.
But Abù-Yùsuf emphasised some important issues in his book in
relation to the administration of Zakàh. First, when Zakàh is imposed
on animals three points should be taken into account: (a) the base
of tax should not be enlarged by the collectors unnecessarily by gath-
ering together the scattered herds that are not meant to be together,
or reduced by the tax payer by dividing the herd—to benefit from
the threshold allowances, (b) Zakàh on jointly owned herds will be
apportioned equally between the partners, (c) no Zakàh is to be
imposed on animals used for cultivation; the idea of exempting from
tax assets used in production and (d) other matters related to car-
ing for animals in the process, taking the average animal not the
best or the worst, not taking animals that were providing milk to
their offspring, not taking newly born animals that are relying on
their mothers for feeding, taking care of animals in transportation
and so on. Animal care seemed to have been of the concern to
administration. This is not surprising if we know that there are Aœadìth
that urge Muslims to be kind to animals.
Second, the necessity of observing efficiency of administration in
the collection of Zakàh and distribution of its revenue: (a) an hon-
est man was to be chosen by the caliph and put in charge of the
administration of Zakàh as a head of his team (minister of Zakàh ?),
(b) this honest head man should choose an honest man in every city
whom he trusts for the collection of Zakàh in the city, (c) the admin-
istration of the collection of Zakàh should be separated from that of
other taxes because Zakàh revenue ought not to be mixed with the
revenue of other taxes and this is because other taxes are meant to
generate revenue for all public purposes, while Zakàh revenue should
be distributed in a particular manner specified in the Qur"àn, (d)
Zakàh revenue, coming from different Zakàh sources in the region,
should be joined together and specifically spent on: the poor, the
destitute, those who collect it, those whose hearts are to be won
over, the emancipation of captives, those who are in debt, in the
cause of God, and the wayfarer, (e) Zakàh collectors should be paid
what was sufficient to sustain them even if it was more than the
specified one-eighth of the revenue. Also, the Zakàh share of “in the
cause of God” may be spent on the improvement of public roads.