Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam that Allah has dictated upon those whose savings exceed the specified threshold. It is taken from the wealthy and given to the poor (i.e., all those who are eligible to receive it according to the Quran). Allah and His Messenger explained all the rulings and details pertaining to this obligatory act of worship to protect the wealthy ones from injustice and protect the rights of those who are in need. In this hadeeth, Anas ibn Maalik (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote him a letter in which he explained the due zakat on livestock that Allah’s Messenger made compulsory upon Muslims. This letter was penned after Abu Bakr appointed Anas to collect the zakat from the people in al-Bahrayn, which is a region that includes, today, the kingdom of Bahrain, as well as Al-Ihsaa and al-Qateef in the eastern parts of Saudi Arabia. It is possible that the meaning of this part of the letter is that it is impermissible for livestock owners to combine their livestock into one group to evade the zakat or reduce the due zakat. The example of this is three persons that each one of them has 40 sheep. As they know that each one will have to pay one sheep, they agreed to put their sheep together so they can only give one sheep instead of three. This is because a person who has 40 to 120 sheep gives only one sheep. Likewise, it is not permissible to divide the livestock into various portions in order to avoid paying zakat. The example of this is two partners that have 200 sheep, on which it is obligatory to pay 3 sheep. However, to reduce the zakat, they divide the sheep between them so that each one takes 100 sheep and thus be required to pay one sheep. This is also not allowed because it is a trick intended to reduce the zakat. It is also possible that this statement is intended to instruct the zakat collector not to combine the property of different people in one group to make the total of which meet the minimum on which zakat is payable and thus take zakat from them. Likewise, it instructs him not to divide the property of partners to calculate the zakat on each one individually to increase the zakat. As it can be noted, the instruction mentioned in this hadeeth is meant to address both the zakat collector and property owners. Neither the zakat collector should fear that the zakat he is collecting will decrease nor the property owner should fear that his zakat is increased. From the benefits of this hadeeth is that it shows the impermissibility of resorting to tricks to evade paying the zakat or to take it from those whose property does not meet the conditions of zakat. This hadeeth shows that those who play tricks to avoid an obligation should be treated according to the opposite of his intent. It shows that partnership in livestock is permissible, and that from the purposes of religion is to have the orders of Allah executed and His obligations are fulfilled, and not working to increase the collected zakat. It shows that Islam is a religion that is well structured and organised in all its legislations and rulings, and it treats people with justice and never transgresses the rights of others.