Zakah on Inherited Wealth for Which the Deceased Did Not Pay Zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Your Eminence, the questioner says: My father (may Allah have mercy on him) passed away and left us an inheritance of money. He (may Allah have mercy on him) did not pay zakah, and we do not know when he acquired this money. Perhaps we should pay zakah on all of it. What is your advice to us?
Answer:
If you know that he did not pay zakah on this wealth, it is a debt owed to Allah that must be paid. You should calculate the zakah and deduct it; you have no inheritance until after the zakah is paid. Allah the Exalted said:[An-Nisa 4:12] Zakah is a debt owed to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and inheritance is not received until after debts are settled. Yes. However, if you do not know whether he paid zakah or not, and you do not know if it was a debt on his conscience, then there is nothing on you. Yes.
Your Eminence, the questioner says: My father (may Allah have mercy on him) passed away and left us an inheritance of money. He (may Allah have mercy on him) did not pay zakah, and we do not know when he acquired this money. Perhaps we should pay zakah on all of it. What is your advice to us?
Answer:
If you know that he did not pay zakah on this wealth, it is a debt owed to Allah that must be paid. You should calculate the zakah and deduct it; you have no inheritance until after the zakah is paid. Allah the Exalted said:
a third, after any bequest which was made or debt
فِي الثُّلُثِ مِن بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَىٰ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 089 من 123 / شرح كتاب زاد المستقنع / الظهار / صالح الفوزان / الفقه / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (42:43)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.