The ruling on purchasing land in exchange for cash balances to avoid zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He asks: Is it permissible for a Muslim to invest his financial assets in land that he owns so that he does not have to pay zakah on it annually, or is that considered a stratagem and a deviation?
The Shaykh:
There is no objection to buying land that he wants as real estate, or that he wants to keep; there is no objection to that. Zakah is not obligatory on it unless he intends to sell it. If he intends to sell it, it becomes obligatory.
The presenter:
My master.
The Shaykh:
If a lunar year has passed and he intended to sell it, then it is due. But if he did not intend to sell it, and he owns it and leaves it to remain in his possession to develop it, to rent it out, to farm it, or to follow it up, there is no objection to this. Yes.
He asks: Is it permissible for a Muslim to invest his financial assets in land that he owns so that he does not have to pay zakah on it annually, or is that considered a stratagem and a deviation?
The Shaykh:
There is no objection to buying land that he wants as real estate, or that he wants to keep; there is no objection to that. Zakah is not obligatory on it unless he intends to sell it. If he intends to sell it, it becomes obligatory.
The presenter:
My master.
The Shaykh:
If a lunar year has passed and he intended to sell it, then it is due. But if he did not intend to sell it, and he owns it and leaves it to remain in his possession to develop it, to rent it out, to farm it, or to follow it up, there is no objection to this. Yes.
Source
دروس الحرم، الدرس الأول - تفسير — alfawzan.live (1:03:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.