Can a specific minimum and maximum amount be determined for the zakah of trade goods to be imposed on merchants?

The questioner : May Allah reward you. Since we said that it is obligatory for him to pay out based on the generality of the evidence, we did not restrict it, because nothing has come in the Shari'ah to restrict this rate for him, and we referred it to the conscience of the owner of the wealth and his mindfulness of Allah.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And the generality of the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): . Now, is it not the case that if a man came to us and said: There is confusion in this fatwa, because people do not know how much they should pay out, and people's circumstances differ; a person may be a merchant but ignorant and not know. Can we determine a specific minimum and maximum amount?

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. No, we cannot. But this argument is a refuted argument, because there may be merchants who have never heard that zakah is obligatory on trade goods. Is this an excuse for him? No. And therefore Allah (the Exalted) said: .
Recently, we said that there are individual obligations and collective obligations, and that every person of legal age who has reached maturity must perform individual obligations such as prayer and its conditions. But if a person is poor, it is not obligatory for him to know the rulings of zakah, nor is it obligatory for him to know the rituals of Hajj. However, since he has become wealthy, it is obligatory for him to know the details of the rulings of zakah. So, if this wealthy person with trade goods does not know the rate, this is what Allah intended, as He did not define it for us, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said in the Qur'an. Therefore, he must know that he must pay out what his soul is pleased with. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the well-known authentic hadith: .
And here, without doubt—and this is a profound divine wisdom—when our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) left this unrestricted and did not limit it, He intended to test these people. As we know, many rulings are unrestricted and left to the person of legal age. The unrestricted nature may be from one aspect, or the restriction may be from one aspect that differs from another aspect. For example, the fixed zakahs with specific thresholds and quantities are found in the Shari'ah in two categories: one category is where the collector sent by the Muslim ruler comes to the wealthy person and takes that zakah from him against his will, which is the zakah of livestock and the zakah of fruits. The other category is where that is left to the wealthy person himself, such as the zakah of money. Now, someone might say: Perhaps this wealthy person, whom the wise Lawgiver did not obligate the Muslim ruler to send to him to count his wealth and take two and a half percent from him, perhaps this wealthy person does not perform this obligation. Is this a question that comes from a Muslim? The answer is: No. Why? Because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has profound wisdoms in everything He legislated, which those who know them know, and those who do not know them do not know. So if we ask: What is the wisdom in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) making a portion of these obligations on the wealth of the wealthy people be taken by the collector from them, and here you know in rulings concerning the collectors, he does not take the best of it, nor does he take the worst of it, we referred to the middle path that you mentioned.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So what is the wisdom in Allah legislating through the tongue of His Prophet that this type of zakah is collected by employees who have a known threshold in zakahs, while He made the zakah of money be the responsibility of the wealthy person himself? He may pay it out or he may not, as is observed today. Many of the wealthy do not pay the zakah of their wealth, but rather spend multiples of it in what is not appropriate, or in what is not permissible, or in what is forbidden.
The wisdom is very clear, because the Lord of the worlds did not want to make every ruling performed by the Muslim against his will, but He wants him to purify himself with his own hand. And therefore, it was of profound wisdom that He made the zakah of money be paid out voluntarily from his own soul, while the other zakah is taken from him against his will. So, this serves as an answer to what you asked, meaning he should fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and we have no way to impose on him from our own side, whether we are the rulers, meaning the authorities, or the rulers in the sense of scholars. It is not permissible for us to impose an obligation on him in what the Lord of the worlds has not imposed, and this is of that type. So you pay the zakah of money with a willing heart, and you must know what is obligatory upon you. Likewise, the issue of trade goods: this Muslim is judged and it is said to him: It is not equal for the one who has ten thousand to the one who has one hundred thousand, or to the one who has millions. So fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said—and I believe this is its place in such an issue: .