Zakah on Trade Goods and Monthly Salaries
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and all his Companions. The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. A man wants to pay zakah on his wealth, but he does not know which wealth has completed the lunar year (hawl) because he was trading in it, taking and giving. What should he do?
The Shaykh : I say: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. And I say that the salam when posing a question is not part of the question.
Because the Companions used to ask the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) without offering the salam. Yes, if a person comes, enters a group, offers the salam, and asks, there is no harm. He says: The salam is for the greeting, not for the question. As for his question, he says: This is a person who buys and sells, buys and sells. Perhaps he bought a commodity one month before the completion of the hawl. Does he pay zakah on this commodity? The answer is yes, because trade goods substitute for one another and take the place of one another. This trader buys this commodity one day and another commodity another day. Therefore, the specific identities of the trade goods are not considered. What is considered is their value.
Therefore, he must pay zakah even if the hawl has not been completed. This is a matter in which there is no dispute. The issue is with the one who has salaries that he receives every month.
So, is the first salary considered, or what? We say that the first salary must be considered, then the second month becomes the start of his hawl, then the third month becomes the start of his hawl, and so on. But there is hardship in this, because the person puts the money in his bank account or elsewhere, or keeps it in his box, and does not know what has completed the hawl and what has not. Therefore, we see that the easiest and most exonerating for the conscience is to consider the hawl to begin at the start of the first month. For example, if a person’s first salary was received in the month of Muharram, when does his hawl complete? In the month of Muharram of the second year. We say: If the month of Muharram of the second year arrives, pay the zakah on everything you have up to the month of Dhul-Hijjah, which has not yet completed a month. Pay the zakah, because this is easier for you. If he says: The hawl for the first month has not been completed, he says: There is no harm. For it is permissible to advance the zakah, meaning to pay it out before the completion of the hawl. In this, there is exoneration for the conscience, ease for the person, and benefit for the poor.
The Shaykh : I say: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. And I say that the salam when posing a question is not part of the question.
Because the Companions used to ask the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) without offering the salam. Yes, if a person comes, enters a group, offers the salam, and asks, there is no harm. He says: The salam is for the greeting, not for the question. As for his question, he says: This is a person who buys and sells, buys and sells. Perhaps he bought a commodity one month before the completion of the hawl. Does he pay zakah on this commodity? The answer is yes, because trade goods substitute for one another and take the place of one another. This trader buys this commodity one day and another commodity another day. Therefore, the specific identities of the trade goods are not considered. What is considered is their value.
Therefore, he must pay zakah even if the hawl has not been completed. This is a matter in which there is no dispute. The issue is with the one who has salaries that he receives every month.
So, is the first salary considered, or what? We say that the first salary must be considered, then the second month becomes the start of his hawl, then the third month becomes the start of his hawl, and so on. But there is hardship in this, because the person puts the money in his bank account or elsewhere, or keeps it in his box, and does not know what has completed the hawl and what has not. Therefore, we see that the easiest and most exonerating for the conscience is to consider the hawl to begin at the start of the first month. For example, if a person’s first salary was received in the month of Muharram, when does his hawl complete? In the month of Muharram of the second year. We say: If the month of Muharram of the second year arrives, pay the zakah on everything you have up to the month of Dhul-Hijjah, which has not yet completed a month. Pay the zakah, because this is easier for you. If he says: The hawl for the first month has not been completed, he says: There is no harm. For it is permissible to advance the zakah, meaning to pay it out before the completion of the hawl. In this, there is exoneration for the conscience, ease for the person, and benefit for the poor.
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1416هـ - 3 — binothaimeen.net (45:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.