A man has a debt owed to him by another person, and he has given up hope of recovering it. Can it be counted as zakah?

The questioner : It is the same issue if I have zakah due on a person, and I have given up hope that it will be returned to me, and this man is destitute. Is it permissible to count this money as my zakah?

The Shaykh : There is a difference here. If the debt you are talking about now, as you said in some of your words, is one from which you have given up hope, and the situation is not progressing...

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Because the scholars divide debt into two categories: living and dead. The living debt is the one we answered about, and the dead debt is the one that is not permissible.

The questioner : Perhaps this debt is dead.

The Shaykh : Perhaps. Make it "perhaps" at that point. The important thing is that we give an answer: if it is dead, it is not permissible; if it is living, it is permissible. There is a difference between a person who has a debt and is in financial difficulty and wants...

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Be patient. The creditor wants to lighten his burden and remove his worry and distress, so he says to him, "My brother, I have such and such with you, and I consider it as my zakah." He says, "May Allah reward you with good," and the matter is settled. But the wealthy creditor who has given up hope of this money, he is in the position of the debt; he must recover it. It is not permissible to count it as zakah. So I hope you will always distinguish between these two descriptions: a living debt and a dead debt.

The questioner : All right, it appears from his condition that he is in financial difficulty. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And this has a continuation related to this living debt, which is still in the possession of the debtor. Is it obligatory for the creditor to pay zakah on it or not? The previous detail applies: if it is living, he must pay zakah on it; if it is dead, he does not have to pay zakah on it unless Allah revives it.

The questioner : I mean, if I understand correctly, I ask a question: if he has a debt, and he knows that whenever he asks for it, he will get it?

The Shaykh : No, it is not a condition. It is not a condition that he gets it whenever he asks. He may delay payment, but this delay has not brought the creditor to the point of giving up hope on the debt. As long as he has not reached that point, the debt is not dead.

The questioner : Does he pay zakah on it every year?

The Shaykh : He has to pay zakah on it every year, because he has to gain two rewards. How is that? We mentioned in some gatherings regarding installment sales, which have afflicted the majority of merchants, that if these merchants had adhered to lawful sales, they would have been among the wealthiest people in good deeds and rewards from Allah Mighty and Majestic, and they would have caught up with the righteous worshippers, as came in the hadith agreed upon by the scholars. When the wealthy sent a messenger to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on their behalf, saying, "O Messenger of Allah, the people of wealth have taken the rewards. They pray as we pray, they fast as we fast, they perform Hajj as we perform Hajj, and they give charity while we do not give charity," he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and so on. The messenger, the messenger of the poor, returned to the poor with this glad tidings, and they rushed to do it. But it was not long before the messenger of the poor returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to say, "O Messenger of Allah, the wealthy have heard what you told us, and they have done what we did." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . The point of this hadith is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) provided an outlet for the poor, considering their material poverty, which is to remember Allah Mighty and Majestic in their free time, at a time when the wealthy usually do not have the leisure for what the poor, who have no work, have leisure for, as was the case with the wealthy in that time. In this time, our wealthy are not like their wealthy, and our poor are not like their poor. And our discussion now is about the wealthy. The wealthy today are not like the wealthy of the Salaf; they barely manage to do what Allah has made obligatory upon them, first, in maintaining the five prayers at their times, and second, in performing them in the mosques. This second point is very rare; you do not find a merchant who closes his shop and goes to pray the obligatory prayer in the mosque. This is very rare, and it is obligatory. If our wealthy today were like those wealthy people, they would have outpaced the poor who are free for worship, through their trade, their selling and buying from people, by not selling people on installment, but selling them for cash at the cash price. In this case, if a merchant sells an item worth one thousand dinars for cash, and sells it for the same price on installment, the Shari'ah says to him, "It is as if you have given charity of half of the thousand, that is, five hundred dinars." One sale of one thousand dinars, which he usually sells for cash, he sells on installment, one hundred or two hundred per month, less or more, as they agree. So it is as if he has given charity from his pocket, taking out five hundred dinars and giving them in charity for the sake of Allah Mighty and Majestic. So imagine, if the large merchants sold on installment at the cash price, how many and how many good deeds would be recorded for them, many and very many. Therefore, the Muslim must conduct his transactions in all the rulings of the Shari'ah such that he is the one who gains. This is an introduction. Why? Because I lent a person one thousand dinars for the sake of Allah, and the repayment, for example, is after one year. He has not repaid the debt after one year due to hardship that befell him. If I record the five hundred as a loan from the Lord of the Worlds, simply because I lent him a thousand, then I am required to pay zakah on this thousand, which is a debt owed to me. So this reward that we received in advance should be paid with another reward, which is paying the zakah of this thousand dinars. Then two rewards are written for me. Why? I am wealthy, so if gratitude is praising Allah Mighty and Majestic with action. So whoever is wealthy and praises Allah but does not fulfill the obligation of wealth and the purification of wealth, he has not acted in gratitude. This is what I wanted to draw attention to. So there is a difference between the living debt and the dead debt from two aspects.
Please go ahead.

The questioner : Our master, this topic leads to another question.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.