We opened a grocery store in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, and it is known that zakah is due when the lunar year has passed, and I want to pay the zakah
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The questioner : We opened a grocery store in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, and it is known that zakah is due when the lunar year has passed, and I want to pay the zakah in the month of Ramadan, so what should I do?
The Shaykh : Opening this store is either with money you had or by borrowing, meaning you buy goods on credit. If it is the former, meaning you opened the store with money you had, then the zakah year begins from when you owned the money before opening the store. So when the year has passed since you owned this money, zakah becomes obligatory. As for the latter, where you borrowed the goods in order to trade with them, the beginning of the year is from when you borrowed them. So when the year is complete, zakah becomes obligatory upon you. However, there is no harm in a person advancing his zakah in Ramadan before its time arrives, and this is from the category of expediting, i.e., expediting the zakah. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) mentioned that it is permissible to expedite the zakah for two years or less.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Opening this store is either with money you had or by borrowing, meaning you buy goods on credit. If it is the former, meaning you opened the store with money you had, then the zakah year begins from when you owned the money before opening the store. So when the year has passed since you owned this money, zakah becomes obligatory. As for the latter, where you borrowed the goods in order to trade with them, the beginning of the year is from when you borrowed them. So when the year is complete, zakah becomes obligatory upon you. However, there is no harm in a person advancing his zakah in Ramadan before its time arrives, and this is from the category of expediting, i.e., expediting the zakah. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) mentioned that it is permissible to expedite the zakah for two years or less.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.