al-Muthanna, and al-Thawri: It is not to be discharged unless he had bequeathed it. The scholars of opinion (ashab al-ra'y) said the same, and they considered it—if he had bequeathed it—a bequest that is to be discharged from the third of the estate, and it shall compete with other legatees. If he did not bequeath it, it lapses, because it is an act of worship (ibadah) of which intention is a condition, so it lapses with the death of the one upon whom it is due, like fasting. Our view is that it is an obligatory right for which a bequest is valid, therefore it does not lapse with death, like the debt of a human being. Furthermore, it is an obligatory financial right, so it does not lapse with the death of the one upon whom it is due, like a debt. It differs from fasting and prayer, for they are two bodily acts of worship for which neither a bequest nor substitution (niyabah) is valid. Finished.

Section: Zakah is obligatory immediately (ala al-fawr); therefore, it is not permissible to delay its disbursement while one has the capacity and ability to do so, provided one does not fear harm. This is the view of al-Shafi'i. Abu Hanifah said: One is permitted to delay it as long as one is not demanded to pay it, because the command to perform it is absolute, and the first moment for its performance is not designated over any other, just as one place is not designated over another. Our response is that an absolute command necessitates immediacy, as will be mentioned in its place. For this reason, the one who delays compliance deserves punishment, just as Allah, the Exalted, expelled Iblis, became angry with him, and rebuked him for his refusal to prostrate. If a man ordered his servant to give him a drink and the servant delayed it, he would deserve punishment. Furthermore, the permissibility of delay contradicts the concept of obligation, for the obligatory is that whose subject is punished for omitting it. If delay were permissible, it could be delayed indefinitely, and thus the punishment for omission would be negated. Even if we conceded that an absolute command does not necessitate immediacy, it would still necessitate it in our issue; because if delay were permissible here