Alms Tax: Exchanging Animals Before the Eleventh Month

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Ayatullah Sistani

Ruling 1938

If before the eleventh month is complete one exchanges the cows, sheep, and camels that he owns with something else, or he exchanges the niṣāb he owns with a niṣāb of the same species – for example, he gives forty sheep and procures another forty sheep in return – then zakat is not obligatory for him as long as this is not done with the intention to escape giving zakat. However, if it is done with such an intention, then in case both sets of animals confer the same type of benefit – for example, both sets of sheep are milk-giving sheep – then the obligatory precaution is that he must give zakat on them.

-Ayatullah Sistani, Practical Laws of Islam, Alms Tax (Zakat)