Is zakah obligatory on debts that people owe?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Abu Ali says: May Allah reward you, I lent my colleagues at work sums of money five years ago—thirty thousand, fifty thousand, and one hundred thousand—and to this day, due to their circumstances, they have not repaid me. Do I have to pay zakah on this money, knowing exactly how much it is?
Answer:
If they are destitute and poor, and you do not know whether your money will be returned to you, or if they are unable to fulfill the debt, then do not pay zakah on it until you receive it. Once you receive it, you pay zakah on it for one year—the year of receipt. Yes.
Abu Ali says: May Allah reward you, I lent my colleagues at work sums of money five years ago—thirty thousand, fifty thousand, and one hundred thousand—and to this day, due to their circumstances, they have not repaid me. Do I have to pay zakah on this money, knowing exactly how much it is?
Answer:
If they are destitute and poor, and you do not know whether your money will be returned to you, or if they are unable to fulfill the debt, then do not pay zakah on it until you receive it. Once you receive it, you pay zakah on it for one year—the year of receipt. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 6797- هل تجب الزكاة في الديون التي عند الناس؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.