The ruling on zakah due on old currencies that are no longer in circulation if collected as a hobby
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Your Eminence! I have a relative who used to have a hobby of collecting old foreign currencies, but he has stopped. Does he have to pay zakah on them or not? And if these currencies have passed out of use and are no longer in circulation, what is the ruling?The Shaykh: It is known that this man bought them for trade?The questioner: Not for trade; it is just a hobby, he only collects them.
The Shaykh: Do they have any value?The questioner: Yes, they are worth something; however, they are old.
The Shaykh: Recently?The questioner: Their validity has ended; most of them are not used anymore.
The Shaykh: First, we say: if he acquired them for the purpose of trade, meaning he earns a living from them, buying this currency for (10) and then selling it later for (20), these are commodities for trade. Their value is assessed at the completion of the lunar year, and one-tenth of a quarter is paid out.
As for if it is merely a hobby and a collection, then if their monetary value remains, meaning the monetary value of these coins, zakah is paid on their value. But if they have been abolished and their use has ended, then nothing is due on them.
The questioner: Some are known to have lost their value, while in some countries it is not known whether they are still in use or not.The Shaykh: He should look into it; it is not a problem. A careful person looks into whether their validity has ended or not.If they say: If their validity ended a year ago, then nothing is due on him for that year that has passed.And if they say: If it was half a year, nothing is due on him either, because the lunar year has not been completed.
The Shaykh: Do they have any value?The questioner: Yes, they are worth something; however, they are old.
The Shaykh: Recently?The questioner: Their validity has ended; most of them are not used anymore.
The Shaykh: First, we say: if he acquired them for the purpose of trade, meaning he earns a living from them, buying this currency for (10) and then selling it later for (20), these are commodities for trade. Their value is assessed at the completion of the lunar year, and one-tenth of a quarter is paid out.
As for if it is merely a hobby and a collection, then if their monetary value remains, meaning the monetary value of these coins, zakah is paid on their value. But if they have been abolished and their use has ended, then nothing is due on them.
The questioner: Some are known to have lost their value, while in some countries it is not known whether they are still in use or not.The Shaykh: He should look into it; it is not a problem. A careful person looks into whether their validity has ended or not.If they say: If their validity ended a year ago, then nothing is due on him for that year that has passed.And if they say: If it was half a year, nothing is due on him either, because the lunar year has not been completed.