regarding the recording of debts that are uncertain in amount?
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The questioner : Regarding the availability of the nisab (minimum threshold for zakah); must it be certain? For example, in our current situation... he has a debt, but his debt is greater than his liabilities, but the debt is known only in the unseen; it may be settled or it may not... What is happening now is that everyone is paper-based, the one who knows this... and thus he either has it or owes it. In this case, some merchants... the accountant is required to assess this debt. There is something called a doubtful debt, for which provisions are made. For example, I have ten thousand dinars in debt, of which two thousand dinars are doubtful debts, every year, and then there are bad debts. When it reaches... So in our case, regarding the assessment of the nisab; that is: where do we stand with this assessment?
The Shaykh : Fine. The jurists divided debt into two categories, and expressed it with a specific term of their own. One is a living debt, and the other is a dead debt. By the first category, they naturally mean the debt that is expected to be returned to its owner. The dead debt is that from which they have lifted their hands and given up, either because the debtor has explicitly become insolvent, or has gone bankrupt, or anything that causes the creditor to despair of that debt. This category, the dead debt, has no consideration in relation to this question. The first category must be considered as if it is in his possession.
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : This first category, the living debt, is the one that must be calculated, and he should consider it as if it is in his pocket.
In the midst of your speech, there is a debt that cannot be considered either living or dead; it is doubtful. This is dealt with by a legal principle as well, which is the preponderance of probability. It must lean toward the first category, which is the living, or the other category, which is the dead. To whichever side the probability leans, it is attached to that, and the problem is resolved.
The questioner : So, no... the debt that is realized is the debt. The doubtful debt is not waited for until he wants it to be realized and he looks into it—for example—over a lifetime.
The Shaykh : That is the dead one. That dead one died, and then Allah revived it by a miracle. On the day he received it, he must look into all the years that have passed.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The Shaykh : Fine. The jurists divided debt into two categories, and expressed it with a specific term of their own. One is a living debt, and the other is a dead debt. By the first category, they naturally mean the debt that is expected to be returned to its owner. The dead debt is that from which they have lifted their hands and given up, either because the debtor has explicitly become insolvent, or has gone bankrupt, or anything that causes the creditor to despair of that debt. This category, the dead debt, has no consideration in relation to this question. The first category must be considered as if it is in his possession.
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : This first category, the living debt, is the one that must be calculated, and he should consider it as if it is in his pocket.
In the midst of your speech, there is a debt that cannot be considered either living or dead; it is doubtful. This is dealt with by a legal principle as well, which is the preponderance of probability. It must lean toward the first category, which is the living, or the other category, which is the dead. To whichever side the probability leans, it is attached to that, and the problem is resolved.
The questioner : So, no... the debt that is realized is the debt. The doubtful debt is not waited for until he wants it to be realized and he looks into it—for example—over a lifetime.
The Shaykh : That is the dead one. That dead one died, and then Allah revived it by a miracle. On the day he received it, he must look into all the years that have passed.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.