Delaying the zakah of gold due to rising prices
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : He says: The price of gold has dropped now, and the lunar year has passed. Is it permissible for me to delay paying the zakah until the price of gold rises, and then pay the zakah?
Answer : I say: May Allah reward him with good for this intention. However, it is obligatory for him to assess the value of the gold now. If he does not want to pay from the gold itself, let him assess its value now and pay the zakah from its current value, even if it is lower. Delaying until the prices rise is a good intention, but circumstances may change; perhaps the prices will drop further than he knows. So, if they drop later, will he say, "Wait until they rise," and then they drop a third time? The bottom line is that he must hasten to pay the zakah and consider the value at the time the zakah becomes obligatory, whether it is low or high. Yes.
Answer : I say: May Allah reward him with good for this intention. However, it is obligatory for him to assess the value of the gold now. If he does not want to pay from the gold itself, let him assess its value now and pay the zakah from its current value, even if it is lower. Delaying until the prices rise is a good intention, but circumstances may change; perhaps the prices will drop further than he knows. So, if they drop later, will he say, "Wait until they rise," and then they drop a third time? The bottom line is that he must hasten to pay the zakah and consider the value at the time the zakah becomes obligatory, whether it is low or high. Yes.
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1411هـ - 4 — binothaimeen.net (40:08)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.