Question: Concerning the basic sum on which Huqúqu’lláh is payable.

Answer: The basic sum on which Huqúqu’lláh is payable is nineteen mithqáls of gold. In other words, when money to the value of this sum hath been acquired, a payment of Huqúq falleth due. Likewise Huqúq is payable when the value, not the number, of other forms of property reacheth the prescribed amount. Huqúqu’lláh is payable no more than once. A person, for instance, who acquireth a thousand mithqáls of gold, and payeth the Huqúq, is not liable to make a further such payment on this sum, but only on what accrueth to it through commerce, business and the like. When this increase, namely the profit realized, reacheth the prescribed sum, one must carry out what God hath decreed. Only when the principal changeth hands is it once more subject to payment of Huqúq, as it was the first time. The Primal Point hath directed that Huqúqu’lláh must be paid on the value of whatsoever one possesseth; yet, in this Most Mighty Dispensation, We have exempted the household furnishings, that is such furnishings as are needed, and the residence itself. 12