Is zakah due on the profits of wealth even if a lunar year has not passed over them?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : All right, another similar question was on my mind: is it possible to say that zakah is paid on the profits?
The Shaykh : No.
The questioner : Why?
The Shaykh : Because zakah is not obligatory on wealth until a lunar year has passed over it.
The questioner : I say yes, on the wealth until a lunar year has passed over it. But if a lunar year has passed over it, should he not pay on its profits? I say if the lunar year has passed, we pay on the profits.
The Shaykh : So you mean something I have understood now, which is: suppose a man started with the minimum threshold (nisab) at the beginning of the month of Muharram, and the lunar year passed over this wealth at the beginning of Muharram of the following year, but during the first year he received profits, as you say, or earnings. When the second year came, he looked and found that he had multiple thresholds (nisabs), not just one threshold. Does he pay on the single threshold over which the lunar year has passed, excluding the other thresholds over which the lunar year has not passed? Or does he pay on the total of what he has, both that over which the lunar year has passed and that over which it has not passed? Do you mean this?
The questioner : Yes, I mean this.
The Shaykh : And the answer is that the scholars also differed on this issue, with two positions. Some said that he pays on the total of what he has: on the threshold that became obligatory upon him by the application of the text, and on the other thresholds over which the lunar year has not passed, but they are attached to the threshold, so he pays on the total of what he has.
The Shaykh : The second position is: whenever a threshold is available to him, he records it and waits for the lunar year to pass over it. Some scholars have said this. But if we look at the legal principles, among which is the saying of the Exalted and Majestic:[Al-Baqarah 2:185] especially in this time when merchants are surprised by profits at every moment, it is not easy to calculate every piece of wealth that comes to him and has reached the threshold, and to record and record; it is something that would baffle the computer's mind, if that expression is correct, let alone the weakness and incapacity of a human being. Therefore, this observation was one of the reasons that carried me, indeed pushed me, to prefer the first position. So, profits are subject to zakah on the condition that there is a base, which is the threshold, and that a lunar year has passed over it. It is not the case, for example, as I mentioned earlier, may Allah reward you: a towering building where he receives, for example, thousands of dirhams or dinars at the beginning of every year. This is profit. Is it obligatory for him to pay zakah immediately upon receiving this profit? The answer is: No. But if he has a threshold and a lunar year has passed over it, and this abundant profit has come to him, he pays on the total.
The questioner : Yes, and this is the stronger position.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is what we have.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : Please.
The Shaykh : No.
The questioner : Why?
The Shaykh : Because zakah is not obligatory on wealth until a lunar year has passed over it.
The questioner : I say yes, on the wealth until a lunar year has passed over it. But if a lunar year has passed over it, should he not pay on its profits? I say if the lunar year has passed, we pay on the profits.
The Shaykh : So you mean something I have understood now, which is: suppose a man started with the minimum threshold (nisab) at the beginning of the month of Muharram, and the lunar year passed over this wealth at the beginning of Muharram of the following year, but during the first year he received profits, as you say, or earnings. When the second year came, he looked and found that he had multiple thresholds (nisabs), not just one threshold. Does he pay on the single threshold over which the lunar year has passed, excluding the other thresholds over which the lunar year has not passed? Or does he pay on the total of what he has, both that over which the lunar year has passed and that over which it has not passed? Do you mean this?
The questioner : Yes, I mean this.
The Shaykh : And the answer is that the scholars also differed on this issue, with two positions. Some said that he pays on the total of what he has: on the threshold that became obligatory upon him by the application of the text, and on the other thresholds over which the lunar year has not passed, but they are attached to the threshold, so he pays on the total of what he has.
The Shaykh : The second position is: whenever a threshold is available to him, he records it and waits for the lunar year to pass over it. Some scholars have said this. But if we look at the legal principles, among which is the saying of the Exalted and Majestic:
Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship
يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسرThe questioner : Yes, and this is the stronger position.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is what we have.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : Please.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.