I lent a person money to open a commercial shop, so when a lunar year had passed, I asked him: Did you pay the zakah on it?
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The questioner : He says: Honorable Shaykh, I lent a person money to open a commercial shop, so when a lunar year had passed.
The Shaykh : I lent.
The questioner : He says: I lent a person money to open a commercial shop, so when a lunar year had passed, I asked him: Did you pay the zakah on it? He said: The government, represented by the Zakat and Tax Authority, collects zakah from shop owners every three years. The question, O honorableThe Shaykh : Do I have to pay the zakah on this money, or is what he pays to the Zakat and Tax Authority considered sufficient?
The Shaykh : The man lent someone money to open a shop. The zakah on the shop is not on the lender. The lender has no income from it. The one who is liable for the zakah on the shop is the one who opened the shop. So he is liable for its zakah. As for the lender, he is liable for the zakah on the debt. For this reason, we say: The shop owner pays zakah on what he has, which is zakah on the asset. And the lender pays zakah on what is in the liability of the shop owner, which is zakah on the debt. It is not said: This is money on which zakah is obligatory twice. Never. The lender’s zakah is for the sake of the debt. For this reason, if Allah decrees that this business is destroyed and it is all lost, is the debt dropped from the liability of the shop owner? It is not dropped. And the statement of some people that this view necessitates that there be two zakahs on one money is a mistake. It is said: The merchant’s zakah is on the asset of his money. And the lender’s zakah is on what? On the debt. So the direction differs. And when the direction differs, the zakah is not coming upon one specific thing. So we say to the lender: You pay zakah on what is in the man’s liability every year. And the government will take from this money—the man’s money—every year. Yes.
The Shaykh : I lent.
The questioner : He says: I lent a person money to open a commercial shop, so when a lunar year had passed, I asked him: Did you pay the zakah on it? He said: The government, represented by the Zakat and Tax Authority, collects zakah from shop owners every three years. The question, O honorableThe Shaykh : Do I have to pay the zakah on this money, or is what he pays to the Zakat and Tax Authority considered sufficient?
The Shaykh : The man lent someone money to open a shop. The zakah on the shop is not on the lender. The lender has no income from it. The one who is liable for the zakah on the shop is the one who opened the shop. So he is liable for its zakah. As for the lender, he is liable for the zakah on the debt. For this reason, we say: The shop owner pays zakah on what he has, which is zakah on the asset. And the lender pays zakah on what is in the liability of the shop owner, which is zakah on the debt. It is not said: This is money on which zakah is obligatory twice. Never. The lender’s zakah is for the sake of the debt. For this reason, if Allah decrees that this business is destroyed and it is all lost, is the debt dropped from the liability of the shop owner? It is not dropped. And the statement of some people that this view necessitates that there be two zakahs on one money is a mistake. It is said: The merchant’s zakah is on the asset of his money. And the lender’s zakah is on what? On the debt. So the direction differs. And when the direction differs, the zakah is not coming upon one specific thing. So we say to the lender: You pay zakah on what is in the man’s liability every year. And the government will take from this money—the man’s money—every year. Yes.