If I buy land for myself in Egypt, is there zakah on it? And if so, how is the nisab determined?
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The questioner : If I buy land for myself in Egypt, is there zakah on it? And if so, how is the nisab determined?
The Shaykh : If a person buys land in Egypt, or in Saudi Arabia, or in Iraq, or in the Levant, or anywhere in the world, and he does not intend to trade in it, but rather bought it to build a residence on it, or to build a structure on it to rent out, or bought it to keep his money in it, then there is no zakah on it, because land itself does not have zakah unless it is for trade, meaning unless a person makes it his capital in which he sells and buys. If the first is what you intended by buying this land, then there is no zakah on it. But if your intention is to trade in it, as real estate owners trade in their lands, then you must pay zakah on it. This is done by estimating its value whenever zakah becomes due in each lunar year, and you pay out one-quarter of a tenth, that is, two and a half percent.
The Shaykh : If a person buys land in Egypt, or in Saudi Arabia, or in Iraq, or in the Levant, or anywhere in the world, and he does not intend to trade in it, but rather bought it to build a residence on it, or to build a structure on it to rent out, or bought it to keep his money in it, then there is no zakah on it, because land itself does not have zakah unless it is for trade, meaning unless a person makes it his capital in which he sells and buys. If the first is what you intended by buying this land, then there is no zakah on it. But if your intention is to trade in it, as real estate owners trade in their lands, then you must pay zakah on it. This is done by estimating its value whenever zakah becomes due in each lunar year, and you pay out one-quarter of a tenth, that is, two and a half percent.