Al-Qaradawi says: Zakah is obligatory on the monthly salaried employee. Is this correct?

The questioner : Al-Qaradawi says: Is zakah obligatory for the employee who receives a weekly or monthly salary?

The Shaykh : Turn your attention away from Al-Qaradawi and lend him a loan.

The questioner : In this journey, he has influenced many people.

The Shaykh : O Allah, guide us among those You have guided. Make a du'a for him. This is contrary to what we said earlier. When a question of prohibition comes up, he says there is no decisive text here, because there is no decisive or probable text, only mere opinion. The texts state that no wealth is subject to zakah unless two conditions are met: that a lunar year has passed and that it has reached the nisab. He exercises independent legal reasoning and tells you that zakah is obligatory on the wealth of the monthly salaried employee, that he must pay zakah on it. What is the evidence for this? He has established a rule, which is to consider the benefit of the poor. Now, considering the benefit of the poor is not a legal rule; it is a communist rule. Because the truth is that communism has never existed except for the benefit of the poor, against whom? The rich. As for the Shari'ah, it was a balance between the two, considering the benefit of both parties: the benefit of the poor and the benefit of the rich. So Al-Qaradawi, may Allah guide him and us, has adopted what the communists adopt: that we must consider the benefit of the poor. At whose expense? The rich. But the wealth of the rich is forbidden; it is not permissible to the end of the well-known hadith. So by what have you made the wealth of the rich lawful and made it obligatory upon him? I wish he were rich; he may not be rich, but rather an employee who receives a monthly salary. He must pay zakah. Where does this come from? From his mind only. Now, in other matters, you are strict and say there is no decisive text, despite the explicit hadiths in the prohibition of singing and the prohibition of consuming riba and giving riba, and the like. And here, there is nothing, yet you say it is obligatory for this employee to pay zakah on his wealth. That is why I said what I said earlier: lend him a loan.