The rates of the zakat: cattle

Ahmad said: Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Hashimi narrated to us: Abu Bakr, meaning ibn Ayyash, narrated to us: Asim narrated to us, from Abu Wa’il, from Mu’adh, who said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen and commanded me to take from every herdsman a dinar or its equivalent in ma’afir, and commanded me to take from every forty cattle a grown cow, and from every thirty cattle a yearling bull, and commanded me a tenth upon what the sky waters and half a tenth upon what is watered by contrivance. Abu Dawud reported it from Abu Mu’awiya, and an-Nasa’i from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from al-A’mach, likewise; and the people of the four Sunan reported it by routes, from al-A’mach, from Abu Wa’il, from Masruq, from Mu’adh, likewise. Ahmad said: Mu’awiya narrated to us, from Amr and Harun ibn Ma’ruf, who said: Abdallah ibn Wahb narrated to us, from Haywa, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, from Salama ibn Usama, from Yahya ibn al-Hakam, that Mu’adh said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to collect the charity of the people of Yemen and commanded me to take of the cattle from every thirty a yearling:

Harun said: the yearling is the weaned male or female: and from every forty a grown cow. They offered me to take what is between forty and fifty, and between sixty and seventy, and between eighty and ninety, and I refused that and said to them: until I ask the Messenger of Allah about that. I came and informed the Prophet, and he commanded me to take from every thirty a yearling and from every forty a grown cow, and of sixty two yearlings, of seventy a grown cow and a yearling, of eighty two grown cows, of ninety three yearlings, of a hundred a grown cow and two yearlings, of a hundred and ten two grown cows and a yearling, of a hundred and twenty three grown cows or four yearlings. The Messenger of Allah commanded me to take nothing of what is between that unless it reaches a grown cow or a yearling; and he claimed that the intermediate numbers carry no obligation. This is among the unique hadiths of Ahmad, and it indicates that Mu’adh returned to the Messenger of Allah after his going to Yemen; and the sound view is that he never saw the Prophet after that, as came in the hadith.