If he does not [find it], he is tasked with purchasing it from other than his wealth.

Section: Al-Athram said: I asked Abu Abd Allah, may Allah have mercy on him: What (16) is the interpretation of the awqas? He said: The awqas (17) are what lies between the two mandatory thresholds (fariḍatayn). I said to him: Is it like what is between thirty and forty in cattle and similar [cases]? He said: Yes, and the shanaq (18) is what is below the mandatory threshold. I said to him: Is it like what is below thirty in cattle, and what is below the mandatory threshold? He said: Yes. Al-Sha'bi said: The shanaq is also what lies between the two mandatory thresholds. Our companions said: Zakat is attached to the nisab (threshold) and not to the waqs (the interval). Its meaning is: if one possesses more than the mandatory threshold, for instance, if one has thirty camels, the Zakat attaches to twenty-five, not to the five that are in excess of it. Therefore, if Zakat became due on them, and the five surplus [animals] perished before the ability to pay it [the Zakat], and we say that the perishing of the nisab before the ability to pay it causes the Zakat to lapse, then nothing of it would lapse here; because the Zakat was not attached to the perished [animals]. If ten of them perished, one-fifth of the Zakat would lapse; because the consideration is for the perishing of a part of the nisab, and only one-fifth of the nisab perished. As for one who says: the perishing of the nisab has no effect in causing the Zakat to lapse, then there is no benefit in the disagreement according to him in this issue, as far as I know. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

Chapter: Zakat on Cattle

It is obligatory by the Sunnah and consensus (ijma'). As for the Sunnah, it is what Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that he said: "There is no owner of camels, nor cattle, nor sheep who does not pay its Zakat, but it will come on the Day of Resurrection in its greatest and fattest state (20), goring him with its horns, and trampling him with its hooves. Every time its last one passes, its first one returns to him, until judgment is passed between the people." It is agreed upon (21). Al-Nasa'i and Al-Tirmidhi (22) narrated from Masruq that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent Mu'adh to Yemen and ordered him to take a dinar from every mature person (halim), and from cattle, from every thirty [one] tab'i or tab'iyya (23), and from every forty [one] musinna (23). Imam Ahmad (24) narrated with his chain of transmission...