The zakah on land whose owner is waiting for its price to rise so he can sell it - The Shaykh

Question : A questioner says: I own a piece of land, and it has remained with me for several years without me selling it, in the hope that its price will rise. Is zakah obligatory on me? I ask for an answer.

Answer : Yes, if a person buys land for profit, but the land becomes defective and its price drops, and he keeps it with him until it rises again, then it is obligatory for him to pay zakah on it every year, because this is among trade goods. But if he says, "I have no money to pay the zakah; I have no money, so what should I do?" and he offered it for sale but no one bought it, we say: estimate its value when the zakah becomes due, meaning determine how much it is worth and record the zakah. For example, if he bought it for one hundred, and at the completion of the lunar year it is worth forty, and he finds no one to buy it, he records the zakah on forty. What is the zakah on forty thousand? One thousand riyals. Fine, he keeps it with him, and the second year comes and it is worth thirty. We record the zakah: how much? Seven hundred and fifty. The third year comes and it is worth only five thousand. What is its zakah? Five thousand, my brothers, one hundred and fifty, one hundred and fifty.
On the one thousand, it is twenty-five. What would it be on five thousand? Fine, in any case, he records it so that if he sells it at some point in time, he pays the zakah that he recorded. Yes.