Zakat is dif-
charged by
the erroneous
I t is not lawful to beftow Zakdt upon the {lave of a rich man,
becaufe, if it be made over to thefiave, it becomes the property of his
majler, and the maft'er being rich, the delivery 'of Zakdt to him is
illegal. And, in like mariner, it is illegal to beftow Zakdt upon the
child of a rich perlon, being,an infant, fince the child is fuppofed to
be rich in the property of the father: contrary to the cafe of the child
■ of a rich perfon,. being an adult, who is poor, he not'being,accounted
rich in the property of his father, although his fubfiftence be a debt
upon his parents : and alfo contrary to the cafe of the wife of a rich
perfon, becaufe fhe, if fhe be poor, is not accounted rich in the property
of the hufband, or in proportion to, or on account of, the fubfiftence
file enjoys from him.
I t is .not lawful to beftow any part of Zakdt upon perfions of the
tribe o’f Hajhim; the prophet having faid, “ O, defcendants ofHaJhiml
“ o f a truth G od hath rendered unlawful to you the G hoosala [water
“ dirtied by ablution] o f men, and alfo their C hirk [fifth,] and in
■“ lieu thereof he hath ordained to you a fifth o f the fifth o f all plunder:'’
and by the term Ghoofala is here to be underftood the Zakdt upon
property, whichfis not lawful to Hdjhimees: contrary to Sadka Nifi:
and by the term Chirk is to be underftood the fame. By the tribe of
Hajhim are here to be'underftood the families of Alee, and Abbas, and
Jafir, and Akleel, and Haris-Ibnal- Moot lib ; all thefe deriving their
defcent from Hajhini the fon of Mindf. But by the name Hajhim, in
the words of the prophet before quoted, is to be particularly underftood
Hajhim the-great-grandfather of the prophet, who alfo gives a
name to a tribe*.------
If a perfon were to beftow Zakdt upon another, erroneoufly fup-
pofing him to be a proper objeft. of its application, and fhould after*
What follows of this paflage relates merely to the Arabian tribes, and is therefore
quite ufelefs. ■ ;
wards
wards, difcover him to be rich,’ or a Hajhimee,^ or an infidel,— or, if
he fhould give Zakdt to a perfon in the dark, and afterwards difcover propsrperfon,
that perfon to be his fa ther, or his fon ,— in thefe. cafes Zakdt is con-
fidered to .be fully difcharged, and no longer to remain due.— This is '
according to Haneefa and Mohammed.— Aboo'Toofaf has'faid that, in
the cafes here .recited, Zakat is ftnl held to remain due, becaufe it
was in the power of that perfon to inquire into, and difcover the particulars
concerning him upon' whom he beftowed Zakat,,, previous to
making it oyer to him; and fuch being the cafe, where he is guilty
of an evident neglect, his aft is null, and confequ.ently the Zakdt is
ftill a debt upon him ; the fame as where there are feveral veflels of
water, fome clean and others unclean,— or feveral garments, fome
pure and others defiled,— in which cafe,' if a perfon, after due deli-,
beration, feleft one of the pots of water, and perform his ablution with
it, or put on one of the garments,-and fay his prayers, and he fhould
afterwards appear to have committed an error, a repetition of the
prayer or ablution is held to be incumbent upon him.— Haneefa arid
Mohammed fupport their opinion, in this cafe, upon a decifion recorded
of the prophet in a fimilar inftance; and they moreover argue, that a
knowledge of the fituation and circumftances of men is only to be
formed from conjefture, and cannot be eafily obtained to a degree of
decifive certainty, wherefore the matter is to be taken according to
the donor’s conception of i t ; the fame as in a cafe of prayer, where if
a man, intending to turn his face towards the Kdba, were to look in
another direftion, and pray, and his miftake, • afterwards appear, a
repetition of the prayer is not incumbent upon him. It is recorded as
an opinion of Haneefa, that Zakdt is to be held difcharged i f thus
beftowed, by miftake, upon a rich perfon, but not i f beftowed upon
a Hajhimee, a parent, or a child ; but the Zdhir Rawayet accords .with
what was before advanced.— What is here mentioned proceeds upon
a fuppofition that the Zakdt has been beftowed after due deliberation,
m confequence o f the donor conceiving that the receiver is a proper
objeft of its application : but if he fhould not have deliberated, or if,
I 2 after