Zakah on a teacher's wealth for past years and the mother paying it on her behalf
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
I am a teacher who owns some wealth, as I receive a salary for teaching over the past four years. From the moment I first received my salary, I have been accustomed to spending on my family, with the largest share going to my mother, then my father, then my grandmother, and some to charitable works each month, while I save the rest for myself. However, when I wanted to pay the zakah on it, my mother told me that she would pay it from her own money and that this would suffice. In reality, she does not know how much wealth I currently possess. Now that four years have passed since I acquired this wealth, I am confused: is zakah obligatory on me or not? And how do I pay the zakah for the past four years?
Answer:
You are rewarded for your spending on your mother, your father, your grandmother, and in the causes of good. May Allah reward you with good and accept from us and from you. As for what concerns the zakah, your mother paying it on your behalf does not suffice, because you have not appointed her as your agent to pay it. And if she pays it on your behalf without your permission, she is acting presumptuously in that, but it does not count as the zakah unless you appoint her as your agent for the wealth you possess. You must pay the zakah on the wealth you possess for the four years, if it has reached the nisab (minimum threshold for zakah). You pay it for the four years: for the first year, based on the amount of wealth, and for the second year likewise, and for the third year, and so on. You pay the zakah on every amount of wealth according to what is obligatory on it: twenty-five from every thousand, twenty-five from every thousand. This is the obligation: you pay twenty-five from a thousand, fifty from two thousand, and seventy-five from three thousand, and so on.
I am a teacher who owns some wealth, as I receive a salary for teaching over the past four years. From the moment I first received my salary, I have been accustomed to spending on my family, with the largest share going to my mother, then my father, then my grandmother, and some to charitable works each month, while I save the rest for myself. However, when I wanted to pay the zakah on it, my mother told me that she would pay it from her own money and that this would suffice. In reality, she does not know how much wealth I currently possess. Now that four years have passed since I acquired this wealth, I am confused: is zakah obligatory on me or not? And how do I pay the zakah for the past four years?
Answer:
You are rewarded for your spending on your mother, your father, your grandmother, and in the causes of good. May Allah reward you with good and accept from us and from you. As for what concerns the zakah, your mother paying it on your behalf does not suffice, because you have not appointed her as your agent to pay it. And if she pays it on your behalf without your permission, she is acting presumptuously in that, but it does not count as the zakah unless you appoint her as your agent for the wealth you possess. You must pay the zakah on the wealth you possess for the four years, if it has reached the nisab (minimum threshold for zakah). You pay it for the four years: for the first year, based on the amount of wealth, and for the second year likewise, and for the third year, and so on. You pay the zakah on every amount of wealth according to what is obligatory on it: twenty-five from every thousand, twenty-five from every thousand. This is the obligation: you pay twenty-five from a thousand, fifty from two thousand, and seventy-five from three thousand, and so on.
Source
ندوات الجامع الكبير مع الأسئلة - 74 — archive.org
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.