Is it a condition for the Zakat's Hawl (one-year cycle) to complete the entire Hijri year, or is the Hawl ten and a half months, such that Zakat is paid eight times every seven years, as one contemporary exegete has opined?

A Hawl (one year) is a lunar Hijri year, meaning twelve months. This is agreed upon in language, Islamic law, and custom. The Quran and Sunnah (definition) have provided evidence for this, such as the verse: ﴿Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months in the Register of Allah, the Day He created the heavens and the earth.﴾ It is not correct to use the verses about pregnancy and breastfeeding as evidence that a Hawl is ten and a half months, as there is nothing in the Quran or Sunnah that specifies the duration of pregnancy as nine months. This interpretation leads to the claim that the Ummah has been astray in the rulings of Zakat (definition) and other matters. Therefore, one must be cautious of these statements that mislead people and cause them to doubt their religion, as they originate from an ignorant pedant who oversteps his bounds.