The ruling on the zakah of date palm fruit sold for dirhams

The questioner:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, a man sold his date palms for twenty-seven thousand riyals. Does he pay the zakah in riyals, or is it necessary for him to buy dates and pay them as his zakah?

The Shaykh:
He sold his date palms, yes. You say he sold his date palms, yes.

The questioner:
He sold his date palms, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh:
He sold the fruit of his date palms for dirhams after it began to ripen. There is nothing wrong with this. He pays the zakah on the dirhams, calculating the zakah from the dirhams, yes. Because the dirhams are the compensation for the dates, he calculates the zakah from the dirhams. He is not required to go and buy dates. Yes. Because zakah is a means of providing relief, so he pays from what he has, and what he has now is dirhams. May Allah reward you. He says: Does he calculate it as zakah on dates? It is not zakah on dates; he calculates it as zakah on the dirhams. Yes.