What is the ruling on zakah for land that has been purchased?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: I bought a piece of land, and I want to sell it after five years. Is there zakah on it during these years? Please note that I am not currently offering it for sale, and also, part of the amount I paid for it remains as a debt in my liability.
Answer:
The criterion is not the item itself, but the intention. If you intend to sell it, it becomes zakatable wealth; it becomes trade goods. If you intend to sell it, it becomes commercial. If a year has passed since your intention to sell it, you appraise it at its value and pay zakah on it every year. So the criterion is not the item, but the intention to sell. Yes.
The questioner says: I bought a piece of land, and I want to sell it after five years. Is there zakah on it during these years? Please note that I am not currently offering it for sale, and also, part of the amount I paid for it remains as a debt in my liability.
Answer:
The criterion is not the item itself, but the intention. If you intend to sell it, it becomes zakatable wealth; it becomes trade goods. If you intend to sell it, it becomes commercial. If a year has passed since your intention to sell it, you appraise it at its value and pay zakah on it every year. So the criterion is not the item, but the intention to sell. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الزكاة في الأرض المشتراة؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.