Is paying off a debt early a way of escaping zakah?

The questioner : Now, we have agreed that when a person pays his zakah at the end of the lunar year... and there is merchandise, or the current commercial methods, where I order merchandise from Germany and pay the bank twenty-five percent of its value. The bank pays them there and guarantees that when the merchandise arrives here, it will be paid in full, such that whether I want it or not, there is no way out but to pay this amount to the bank and take guarantees. In the meantime, it takes the merchandise four or five months to reach me from the time of ordering until it arrives. If it happens that... these amounts are due from me, and I pay them, for example, one month or a month and a half after the end of the lunar year, do I deduct this amount? Because this amount is realized, but I have not paid it; I have not paid it because of... the methods of sale.

The Shaykh : Like the previous example?

The questioner : The answer is that I pay the amount.

The Shaykh : I mentioned it.

The questioner : That the money is with me, even though the merchandise is now prepared and on its way.

The Shaykh : Yes, but the money is still with you, and the lunar year has passed over it; otherwise, it would be said, "I am holding this money and not paying its zakah because I intend to give it to the creditor."

The questioner : All right, suppose a Muslim with this knowledge wants to pay immediately, and he can only pay through the old method, after two or three months. Is this considered disliked?

The Shaykh: It depends on him and his intention.

The questioner : His intention is not that; he wants to pay.

The Shaykh : No, I mean his intention is not to scheme; I mean not to scheme to escape from zakah. Our previous example, the trader mentioned by Abu Ahmad, he hastens to pay this debt before the due date for what reason? To get rid of the zakah. This is not permissible, of course. Is it clear in our example or not?

The questioner : It is clear, there is nothing to it.

The Shaykh : Huh, what is it?

The questioner : I mean, the problem is as much as the matters of commitment in this complex time.

The Shaykh : No, do not expand; let us stay with the example, because my brother , the intended purpose of an example is usually to clarify what it represents, not the example itself. So when we understand the example, perhaps we then reach an understanding of what was previously closed to us. This example is clear. You say there is a problem. All right, what is the problem?

The questioner : The problem is that...

The Shaykh : So what is in it?

The questioner : I mean, how does it happen now? There is a cheaper means than another means.

The Shaykh : You, Abu Yahya, are not deviating from the topic.

The questioner : Excuse me, excuse me, take me as I am; I am not really deviating.

The Shaykh : Your word "matters" and my word "matter," when you put the matter in the matters, there is a change in the topic.

The questioner : It is the same matter.

The Shaykh : All right, what does this mean?

The questioner : I mean this trader has the choice to buy in the way we discussed.

The Shaykh : My example is with Abu Ahmad. My example is with Abu Ahmad. What did Abu Ahmad say? A trader has liquidity reaching the nisab, and he has a debt to some people. Does he have to pay this debt? Is zakah obligatory on him?
The answer: Yes. I developed the example to say that this trader has a debt to the bank for which he is liable, so he advances the payment before the due date in order to get rid of the zakah. Is this example clear? As a clear example? All right, is it permissible from the Sharia'ah perspective?

The questioner : It is permissible.

The Shaykh : It is not permissible; because he wants to get rid of the zakah.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Be patient... there is a difference in the matter.

The questioner : Advancing the due date is only to escape from zakah.

The Shaykh : I developed it.

The questioner : Why this example? I am not... you see me being stubborn about my opinion or my example, because in my opinion, and Allah knows best, this example solves a problem that is absent from the mind. So now, this example that I took from Abu Ahmad and developed for this purpose: he pays the zakah by paying the debt before the due date in order to get rid of the zakah. Is this action permissible?

The questioner : This is a scheme.

The Shaykh : Is Yahya still having something? Let us hear it?

The questioner : It is not permissible.

The Shaykh : It is not permissible. All right, the images you are talking about now either have a relation to Abu Ahmad's image, in which case they are permissible, or they have a relation to my modified image, in which case they are not permissible. Is that right or not? We are not getting an answer.

The questioner : No, that is it. Its reference is the intention. It has become a matter of intention.

The Shaykh : Of course, what do you say, its reference is the intention?

Another questioner : Our Shaykh, what does the intention have to do with this?

The Shaykh : You came in a rush; you do not take priority.

The questioner : No, on the contrary, the intention is the deciding factor, because I am now...

The Shaykh : What is next with you?

The questioner : Perhaps this hadith at its beginning I do not remember it?

The Shaykh : This hadith was mentioned at the beginning.

The questioner :

The Shaykh : All right, did you see it in the believer?

The questioner : The hadith of the qadar, and in it is such and such... I mean... this is not upon him... but you are... and the lunar year has passed... until you pay...

The questioner : Okay, okay, the same...

The questioner : But initially, if you know, I mean initially... if you initially... also in my mind, that in reality... the lunar year passes over him...

The questioner : But if...

The questioner : What concerns me here... I mean I am now... like cash.

The questioner : By Allah, this...

The questioner : This... is like the person who goes to buy merchandise before the lunar year enters.

The Shaykh : Also, it is not permissible.

The questioner : No, no, he has cash, and the idea... is to borrow or to pay such and such from...

The questioner : What is... if the purchase is on credit... the money, yes, he leaves it...