Is Zakat due immediately upon trade goods (Urood al-Tijarah) if the owner intends them for personal consumption (Qunyah)?
Chapter on Zakat on Trade Merchandise
Al-Mughni
Book of Zakat
Primary text
If the owner of trade goods intends them for personal consumption (Qunyah), the ruling shifts to Qunyah, and Zakat upon the goods is waived. This is the view held by Al-Shafi'i and the Ashab al-Ra'y (the people of opinion, referring generally to the Hanafi school). The basis for this is that Qunyah is the original state, and mere intention is sufficient to revert the item to its original status, just as intending trade for jewelry or intending residence for a traveler suffices to change the ruling.
Supporting text
Malik, in one narration from him, holds that the ruling of trade is not nullified merely by intention, similar to intending feed for livestock designated for trade. Furthermore, some scholars, including Ibn Aqil and Abu Bakr, follow a narration from Ahmad suggesting that if one intends trade for items previously held for Qunyah, the item becomes trade capital immediately based on intention alone, citing a report concerning land yielding five Wasqs that incurred no Zakat until trade was intended.