Answered by: Shaykh Umer Khan
Question
In countries with no Muslim sultan, who do you give the Zakah of free-roaming animals?
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Ibn Ḥajar Al-ʻAsqalānī states that Imām Al-Ṭaḥāwī reports: “Muslim Bin Yasār said that AbūʻAbdillāh, a man from the Saḥābah would say: Zakāh, ḥudūd, fay’ (spoils) and Jumu’ah are [consigned] to the Sulṭān. (Fatḥu al-Bārī, 12/163). However, the Ḥanafī jurists have ruled that in the absence of a Muslim ruler, zakāh and Friday prayers remain obligatory and must still be established.
You may pay the zakāhon the free-roaming animals to anyone who is deserving of it. The Zakah may be paid in kind or as its equivalent in cash (Al-Ikhtiyār, 1/102).
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Umer Khan
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham