Zakah on land purchased without a deed for investment and paying it to relatives
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. The questioner says: I bought land without a legal deed for the purpose of investment, and a lunar year has passed over it, but I did not pay its zakah. What is the ruling in this case? And what is its zakah if its value is seventy thousand riyals?
The Shaykh:
If you own it with valid ownership—you bought it and it has no deed—if your purchase of it is not valid, it must be established for the seller by a legal deed. If its ownership is established for the seller and you bought it, we look at your intention: do you want it as real estate? Or do you want it for trade, buying and selling? If you want it as real estate to keep, there is no zakah on it. If you want it for buying and selling, there is zakah on it. When a lunar year passes over it, you estimate its value at the completion of the year and pay its zakah by giving one-fourth of a tenth, which is two and a half percent. Yes.
The questioner:
I say, may Allah reward you. Is it permissible for me to pay its zakah to my relatives?
The Shaykh:
Your needy relatives are more deserving. Your needy relatives are more deserving of your zakah, except for the zakah of a father for his son or the zakah of a son for his father, which is not valid and is not permissible for the vertical line of kinship, because each of the vertical lines of kinship is obligated to provide for the other if he is in need. So do not make the zakah a means of protecting your wealth. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. The questioner says: I bought land without a legal deed for the purpose of investment, and a lunar year has passed over it, but I did not pay its zakah. What is the ruling in this case? And what is its zakah if its value is seventy thousand riyals?
The Shaykh:
If you own it with valid ownership—you bought it and it has no deed—if your purchase of it is not valid, it must be established for the seller by a legal deed. If its ownership is established for the seller and you bought it, we look at your intention: do you want it as real estate? Or do you want it for trade, buying and selling? If you want it as real estate to keep, there is no zakah on it. If you want it for buying and selling, there is zakah on it. When a lunar year passes over it, you estimate its value at the completion of the year and pay its zakah by giving one-fourth of a tenth, which is two and a half percent. Yes.
The questioner:
I say, may Allah reward you. Is it permissible for me to pay its zakah to my relatives?
The Shaykh:
Your needy relatives are more deserving. Your needy relatives are more deserving of your zakah, except for the zakah of a father for his son or the zakah of a son for his father, which is not valid and is not permissible for the vertical line of kinship, because each of the vertical lines of kinship is obligated to provide for the other if he is in need. So do not make the zakah a means of protecting your wealth. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
بلوغ المرام 07-07-1435هـ — af.org.sa (55:55)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.