compel anyone to pay Sadaqah on silent wealth (cash/gold/silver), nor did they demand it from them, unless he brought it forth voluntarily. Furthermore, the tax collectors take the Zakat of what they find and do not ask what debt the owner has, which proves that it does not prevent its Zakat. Also, the appetite of the poor for it is greater, and the need to preserve it is more abundant; therefore, the Zakat upon it is more confirmed.

Section: Debt only prevents Zakat if it exhausts the Nisaab (minimum threshold) or diminishes it, and the person finds nothing to pay it with other than the Nisaab or what he cannot dispense with. For instance, if he has twenty mithqals and owes a mithqal or more or less—an amount that would reduce the Nisaab if he were to pay it—and he has no means of payment outside of the Nisaab. If he has thirty mithqals and owes ten, he must pay the Zakat on twenty. If he owes more than ten, he owes no Zakat. If he owes five, he must pay the Zakat on twenty-five. If he has one hundred sheep and owes an amount equivalent to sixty, he must pay the Zakat on forty. If he owes an amount equivalent to sixty-one, he owes no Zakat, because it diminishes the Nisaab. If he has two types of wealth and owes a debt, he should place the debt in opposition to that which he would use to pay it. If he owes five camels [and has five camels] and two hundred dirhams, and if the debt is a salam (forward sale) or blood money or similar, which is paid with camels, you place the debt in opposition to them (the camels), and the Zakat of the dirhams becomes mandatory for him. If he destroyed or usurped them, you place their value in opposition to the dirhams, because they are paid from them. If it is a loan, it follows the two viewpoints regarding what it is paid from. If, when we place it in opposition to one of the two types of wealth, there remains a surplus that reduces the other Nisaab, and when we place it in opposition to the other, there is no surplus—such as a man who has five camels and two hundred dirhams, and owes six camels whose value is two hundred dirhams—when we place it in opposition to the two hundred dirhams, no part of the debt remains to reduce the Nisaab of the grazing livestock, and when we place it in opposition to the camels, a camel remains, which reduces the Nisaab