My mother passed away and she did not pay the zakah on her gold, because my father told her that he would pay the zakah on her behalf, and she was ill. Do we bear any sin for that?

The questioner : The questioner says: My mother passed away and she did not pay the zakah on her gold, because my father told her that he would pay the zakah on her behalf, and she was ill. Do we bear any sin for that? And what should the family of a deceased person do if someone dies who did not pay the zakah? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : The mother, as we understood from the questioner’s words, relied on her husband to pay the zakah. So the husband is asked: Did he pay the zakah or not? If he says yes, that he paid it, then the matter is settled and there is no problem. If he says that he did not pay it, he is told: Either pay it now to fulfill your promise, or pay it from her estate before anything else, before the bequest and before the inheritance. As for if a person dies without having paid the zakah, it is looked into: if he was committed to it but kept saying, “Tomorrow I will pay it, tomorrow I will pay it,” until death overtook him, then it is paid from his estate, and it is hoped that his conscience is cleared thereby. But if he was negligent and did not care whether he paid it or not, there is a difference of opinion among the scholars as to whether his conscience is cleared if the heirs pay it on his behalf or not. However, the amount of the zakah is paid from the estate, considering that the zakah involves the right of another, namely its recipients. So the zakah is paid from the estate, but the deceased’s conscience is not cleared thereby because he intended not to pay it.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.