If a woman has no money from which to pay zakah, and she has nothing but jewelry, is it permissible for her husband to pay the zakah on her behalf, even if she has no one else to pay it for her?

The Shaykh : Some people say: If a woman has no money from which to pay zakah, and she has nothing but jewelry, is it permissible for her husband to pay the zakah on her behalf? The answer is yes, if she consents to it, there is no harm. Or one of her relatives, such as her father or her brother, may do so, and there is no harm in that either. If no one does so, and she has nothing but jewelry, what does she do? We say she pays it from the jewelry. For example, if she has rings, and she pays out, meaning each ring is one mithqal, and she has twenty rings, each one mithqal, then in this case she can pay out one-tenth or one-quarter of a tenth.

The questioner : One-quarter of a tenth.

The Shaykh : Fine. Or she sells some of this jewelry and pays zakah. But some people might say: If you order her to sell from her jewelry and pay zakah, it will not be several years before her jewelry is gone and she has nothing left? The answer to this is that we say: if it reaches a point where it falls below the nisab, she owes no zakah. And at that time, her jewelry will not be exhausted; her jewelry will not be exhausted, meaning she will still have jewelry weighing eighty-four grams. This is not subject to zakah because it is below the nisab.