How to Calculate the Zakah on a Salary
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
I pay the zakah annually when I return to my country. At that time, I have several things I want to accomplish, such as construction, buying furniture, and so on. Should I pay the zakah first, or after buying these items? Since I receive a monthly salary, it is difficult to determine the amount that has completed a lunar year (hawl). How should I handle this situation? Please note that zakah is only obligatory on the amount that has completed a lunar year. Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
This issue is frequently asked about, especially by employees and those who have a recurring monthly income, regarding how to pay zakah on what accumulates with them, because it is not on a single basis. What clears the conscience and provides relief for this questioner and others like him is to designate a month of the year, such as Ramadan, in which he pays the zakah on all the money that has accumulated with him in that month up to the same month of the following year. For what has completed its lunar year, he has paid its zakah at the end of the year; for what has not completed its lunar year, he has paid it early. Paying zakah early is permissible, especially if it is for a need. So he takes a month of the year in which he pays the zakah on the money that has accumulated with him up to the same month of the next year. And what he spent before this month from money that had not completed its lunar year, there is no zakah on it.
So if he buys, if he purchases necessities or items from the money that has not completed its lunar year, there is no zakah on it.
But if he buys from it after its lunar year has been completed, then zakah becomes obligatory on it for the full lunar year.
I pay the zakah annually when I return to my country. At that time, I have several things I want to accomplish, such as construction, buying furniture, and so on. Should I pay the zakah first, or after buying these items? Since I receive a monthly salary, it is difficult to determine the amount that has completed a lunar year (hawl). How should I handle this situation? Please note that zakah is only obligatory on the amount that has completed a lunar year. Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
This issue is frequently asked about, especially by employees and those who have a recurring monthly income, regarding how to pay zakah on what accumulates with them, because it is not on a single basis. What clears the conscience and provides relief for this questioner and others like him is to designate a month of the year, such as Ramadan, in which he pays the zakah on all the money that has accumulated with him in that month up to the same month of the following year. For what has completed its lunar year, he has paid its zakah at the end of the year; for what has not completed its lunar year, he has paid it early. Paying zakah early is permissible, especially if it is for a need. So he takes a month of the year in which he pays the zakah on the money that has accumulated with him up to the same month of the next year. And what he spent before this month from money that had not completed its lunar year, there is no zakah on it.
So if he buys, if he purchases necessities or items from the money that has not completed its lunar year, there is no zakah on it.
But if he buys from it after its lunar year has been completed, then zakah becomes obligatory on it for the full lunar year.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، كيفية حساب زكاة الراتب – الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.