I have been working in Iraq for about three years, and I have accumulated a sum of money, but I have not paid its zakah due to the difficulty of my financial circumstances.
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The questioner : He says: I have been working in Iraq for about three years, and I have accumulated a sum of money, but I have not paid its zakah due to the difficulty of my financial circumstances. I have a lot of debt, and my family in my country is waiting for me to send them money to help them. Is there anything required of me in this regard? Also, regarding prayer, my work lasts for thirteen consecutive hours, so I am unable to perform it. If I pray one day, I do not pray the next. What is the ruling on my doing this?
The Shaykh : Your action involves two matters: one is abandoning prayer, and the other is abandoning zakah. These are the greatest pillars of Islam after the testimonies of faith. As for prayer, you are never excused for abandoning it under any circumstances. It is obligatory for you to pray at its proper time, no matter what happens, even if it is decreed that you are dismissed from this job to another, or if you go out to the desert to gather firewood and sell it and eat from it, it is still obligatory for you to perform the prayer. It is not permissible for you to delay it, as some ignorant people do, until they sleep; when they go to sleep, they pray the five prayers. This is forbidden and not permissible, and it is among the major sins, indeed among the greatest of major sins, may Allah protect us from it, because it can lead to disbelief.
As for zakah, if this money you earn remains with you until a lunar year has passed over it, it is obligatory for you to pay its zakah. The fact that your family is waiting for the money you send them does not prevent the obligation of zakah. Zakah is not a difficult thing, nor is it a large portion of the money; it is only one-fortieth, meaning two and a half percent. It is a simple and easy matter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that charity does not decrease wealth; rather, charity increases wealth with blessing and growth, and Allah opens for a person doors of good that he never imagined, if he pays what Allah has made obligatory upon him in his wealth. So you must pay zakah on every sum of money that has completed a lunar year in your possession. As for what you have spent or used to pay off a debt before the lunar year was completed, you owe no zakah on it.
The Shaykh : Your action involves two matters: one is abandoning prayer, and the other is abandoning zakah. These are the greatest pillars of Islam after the testimonies of faith. As for prayer, you are never excused for abandoning it under any circumstances. It is obligatory for you to pray at its proper time, no matter what happens, even if it is decreed that you are dismissed from this job to another, or if you go out to the desert to gather firewood and sell it and eat from it, it is still obligatory for you to perform the prayer. It is not permissible for you to delay it, as some ignorant people do, until they sleep; when they go to sleep, they pray the five prayers. This is forbidden and not permissible, and it is among the major sins, indeed among the greatest of major sins, may Allah protect us from it, because it can lead to disbelief.
As for zakah, if this money you earn remains with you until a lunar year has passed over it, it is obligatory for you to pay its zakah. The fact that your family is waiting for the money you send them does not prevent the obligation of zakah. Zakah is not a difficult thing, nor is it a large portion of the money; it is only one-fortieth, meaning two and a half percent. It is a simple and easy matter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that charity does not decrease wealth; rather, charity increases wealth with blessing and growth, and Allah opens for a person doors of good that he never imagined, if he pays what Allah has made obligatory upon him in his wealth. So you must pay zakah on every sum of money that has completed a lunar year in your possession. As for what you have spent or used to pay off a debt before the lunar year was completed, you owe no zakah on it.