He has a dirham against me before it a dinar, or after it, or a qafiz of wheat, or with it, or above it, or below it, or along with that; the ruling regarding that is the same as the ruling regarding the dirham.

Section: If he says: "He has between a dirham and ten against me," he is bound by eight; because that is what is between them. If he says: "From a dirham [to ten]," there are three views regarding it. One of them is that he is bound by nine. This is narrated from Abu Hanifa, because "min" (from) is for the beginning of a limit, and the start of the limit is from it, and "ila" (to) is for its termination, so it is not included in it, like His saying, the Almighty: {Then complete the fast until the night}. The second is that he is bound by eight, because the first and the tenth are boundaries, so they do not enter into the acknowledgment, and he is bound by what is between them, like the one preceding it. The third is that he is bound by ten, because the tenth is one of the two extremes, so it enters into it like the first, and as if he said: "I read the Quran from its beginning to its end." If he says: "I intended by my saying from one to ten, the sum of all numbers, meaning one and two and so on until ten," he is bound by fifty-five dirhams. The shorthand for calculating it is to add the first number, which is one, to the ten, so it becomes eleven, then multiply it by half of the ten, and what it reaches is the answer.

Section: If he says: "He has dirhams against me," he is bound by three, because it is the minimum of the plural. If he says: "He has many, or ample, or great dirhams against me," he is bound by three. This is what al-Shafi'i said. Abu Hanifa said: "His interpretation of it less than ten is not accepted, because it is the minimum of the plural of abundance." Abu Yusuf and Muhammad said: "It is not accepted as less than two hundred, because with it, sufficiency is attained and Zakat becomes obligatory." Our argument is that abundance and greatness have no limit in the Sharia, nor in language, nor in custom, and it varies according to additions and people's conditions. Thus, three is more than what is below it and less than what is above it. Among people are those who consider a small amount great, and among them are those who do not consider a large amount great. It is possible that the acknowledger meant many in relation to what is below it, or many in itself, so an increase does not become obligatory by mere possibility.