If debts exceed the value of the merchandise, is zakat due?
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Fatwa number ( 14270 )
Q: I am a man whose total merchandise is approximately fifty thousand riyals, and I personally have debts exceeding one hundred thousand riyals. I ask you to inform me whether my merchandise, whose total is as stated above, requires the payment of zakat, despite the accumulation of debts upon me that are more than double the value of my merchandise?
A: Debt does not prevent the obligation of zakat if it remains upon him at the time zakat becomes due. It is obligatory for you to pay the zakat. Through zakat, Allah will bless you in your wealth and purify you with it; as Allah the Exalted said:[At-Tawbah 9:103] from Surat al-Tawbah. And in the hadith narrated by Muslim from Abu Hurayrah , that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2029Sahih (Darussalam) And al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sahih Muslim 1010. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: I am a man whose total merchandise is approximately fifty thousand riyals, and I personally have debts exceeding one hundred thousand riyals. I ask you to inform me whether my merchandise, whose total is as stated above, requires the payment of zakat, despite the accumulation of debts upon me that are more than double the value of my merchandise?
A: Debt does not prevent the obligation of zakat if it remains upon him at the time zakat becomes due. It is obligatory for you to pay the zakat. Through zakat, Allah will bless you in your wealth and purify you with it; as Allah the Exalted said:
Take, [O, Muhammad], from their wealth a charity by which you purify them and cause them increase
خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِمْ بِهَاCharity does not diminish wealth
ما نقصت صدقة من مالThree things I swear about – and he mentioned among them – that the wealth of a servant does not decrease from charity.
ثلاثة أقسم عليهن – وذكر منها – ما نقص مال عبد من صدقةThere is never a day wherein servants (of God) get up at morn, but are not visited by two angels. One of them says: 0 Allah, give him more who spends (for the sake of Allah), and the other says: 0 Allah, bring destruction to one who withholds.
ما من يوم يصبح العباد فيه إلا ملكان ينزلان فيقول أحدهما: اللهم أعط منفقًا خلفًا، ويقول الآخر: اللهم أعط ممسكًا تلفًًا
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.