The Ruling on Paying Zakah in Place of Taxes and Combining Two Prayers
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah bless you. This sister says that we live in a foreign country, and since my husband moved in, he has not paid zakah. I asked my husband why he does not pay zakah? He said that we pay a high annual tax of approximately seven thousand dollars, and this counts as zakah because the government spends it on the poor, but I was not convinced by that. What is the ruling on this?
The Shaykh:
This is a debt upon him, so he must fear Allah and pay the zakah willingly from his heart, because it is an obligation upon him, and this is his specific responsibility. You have no responsibility toward him in this matter. Yes.
The questioner:
I mean, these taxes are not considered part of the zakah.
The Shaykh:
No, this is compulsory. Yes.
The questioner:
The sister’s second question: She says we work for eight consecutive hours, and we are unable to leave work to pray at home, and there is no place to pray at work. Is it permissible for us to combine the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers when we return home on workdays?
The Shaykh:
Prayer is more obligatory than this work. So if this work, as you mentioned, prevents you from praying, leave it and seek work in which you are able to pray. Yes.
May Allah bless you. This sister says that we live in a foreign country, and since my husband moved in, he has not paid zakah. I asked my husband why he does not pay zakah? He said that we pay a high annual tax of approximately seven thousand dollars, and this counts as zakah because the government spends it on the poor, but I was not convinced by that. What is the ruling on this?
The Shaykh:
This is a debt upon him, so he must fear Allah and pay the zakah willingly from his heart, because it is an obligation upon him, and this is his specific responsibility. You have no responsibility toward him in this matter. Yes.
The questioner:
I mean, these taxes are not considered part of the zakah.
The Shaykh:
No, this is compulsory. Yes.
The questioner:
The sister’s second question: She says we work for eight consecutive hours, and we are unable to leave work to pray at home, and there is no place to pray at work. Is it permissible for us to combine the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers when we return home on workdays?
The Shaykh:
Prayer is more obligatory than this work. So if this work, as you mentioned, prevents you from praying, leave it and seek work in which you are able to pray. Yes.
Source
قناة «إذاعة القرآن الكريم»، نورعلى الدرب مع معالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان ح7515 — youtube.com (10:57)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.