Paying the equivalent of stolen zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa No. ( 11870 )
Q: A robbery occurred at my home when I and my family left
our home after the Maghrib prayer, and when we returned to our home at eleven at night, we found that thieves had broken into our house, breaking the doors and entering the house, breaking the cabinets and bags, and stealing whatever they found inside the house in the form of money. More than thirty-five thousand riyals (35,000) were stolen from the house, which were secured inside two bags, one being a Samsonite and the other a large bag. I informed the police at the time, and the police came and witnessed the traces, but the criminals have not been caught until now. Since part of this stolen amount is a sum whose exact number is not certain, but it is in the range of (4,000–5,000 riyals), and it is the remainder of the zakah designated from last Ramadan, and I have spent more than half of it and continued to spend from it, and it was secured with the money I spent on my family inside a locked bag. Therefore, I ask Allah, then your Eminence, for a fatwa regarding this amount designated as zakah: is the zakah considered valid, or what is obligatory for me in this case? Knowing that the amount for which I paid the zakah is not largely in my possession; it is in old real estate investments, and loss is possible in them.
A : It is obligatory for you to pay the equivalent of the stolen zakah, because you do not discharge its obligation except by delivering it to its rightful recipients.
And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Q: A robbery occurred at my home when I and my family left
our home after the Maghrib prayer, and when we returned to our home at eleven at night, we found that thieves had broken into our house, breaking the doors and entering the house, breaking the cabinets and bags, and stealing whatever they found inside the house in the form of money. More than thirty-five thousand riyals (35,000) were stolen from the house, which were secured inside two bags, one being a Samsonite and the other a large bag. I informed the police at the time, and the police came and witnessed the traces, but the criminals have not been caught until now. Since part of this stolen amount is a sum whose exact number is not certain, but it is in the range of (4,000–5,000 riyals), and it is the remainder of the zakah designated from last Ramadan, and I have spent more than half of it and continued to spend from it, and it was secured with the money I spent on my family inside a locked bag. Therefore, I ask Allah, then your Eminence, for a fatwa regarding this amount designated as zakah: is the zakah considered valid, or what is obligatory for me in this case? Knowing that the amount for which I paid the zakah is not largely in my possession; it is in old real estate investments, and loss is possible in them.
A : It is obligatory for you to pay the equivalent of the stolen zakah, because you do not discharge its obligation except by delivering it to its rightful recipients.
And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.