A group has a fund exclusively for car accidents, in which they collect a sum of money every year. The amount has now reached four hundred thousand riyals and more. Is
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : He says:The questioner : A group has a fund exclusively for car accidents, in which they collect a sum of money every year. The amount has now reached four hundred thousand riyals and more. Is zakah due on this amount, because this amount is frozen in the bank?
The Shaykh : All right, first we ask: Is it good to collect a fund for accidents? That is one point. Or is it said that it is good not to collect? Or is this detailed? We say in answer to that: If we collect money for accidents, and if it is for accidents that befall the person, then that is good, and there is goodness, cooperation, and solidarity in it. An example of this is that we collect coins so that if one of us has an accident in his car, in his farm, or in his house, he is helped from this fund. That is good, and people praise him for it. But if we collect the fund for accidents that happen from the person, not to him, that is a matter of concern. What are accidents that happen from the person? It means we collect this fund in order to help the man if he hits a person, or if the man hits a car. Here is a place of concern, because if we collect this fund for this purpose, the members of the tribe will be negligent regarding the accidents that happen from them. Do you understand? Because if this man runs over a person, he says, "Praise be to Allah, the blood money is in the fund," so he becomes negligent and does not care, unlike if he felt that the liability would be on him, in which case he would be cautious. So we say that collecting donations or setting up a fund for accidents is of two types. The first type? Answer!
The student: That the accidents be on the person.
The Shaykh : That the accidents be on the person. This is required, and there is goodness and cooperation in it.
And the second type is that the collection be for accidents from the person. This is a matter of concern, because it may open the door to negligence from these reckless people who do not care, so it is looked into.
As for zakah, zakah is not obligatory on this collected money, because this collected money has no owner, and one of the conditions for the obligation of zakah is ownership. This does not have an owner. If one of these donors wanted to withdraw his donation, he would not be able to, because it is not his property. It has now transferred to public ownership, which is not specific to one person over another. Yes.
The Shaykh : All right, first we ask: Is it good to collect a fund for accidents? That is one point. Or is it said that it is good not to collect? Or is this detailed? We say in answer to that: If we collect money for accidents, and if it is for accidents that befall the person, then that is good, and there is goodness, cooperation, and solidarity in it. An example of this is that we collect coins so that if one of us has an accident in his car, in his farm, or in his house, he is helped from this fund. That is good, and people praise him for it. But if we collect the fund for accidents that happen from the person, not to him, that is a matter of concern. What are accidents that happen from the person? It means we collect this fund in order to help the man if he hits a person, or if the man hits a car. Here is a place of concern, because if we collect this fund for this purpose, the members of the tribe will be negligent regarding the accidents that happen from them. Do you understand? Because if this man runs over a person, he says, "Praise be to Allah, the blood money is in the fund," so he becomes negligent and does not care, unlike if he felt that the liability would be on him, in which case he would be cautious. So we say that collecting donations or setting up a fund for accidents is of two types. The first type? Answer!
The student: That the accidents be on the person.
The Shaykh : That the accidents be on the person. This is required, and there is goodness and cooperation in it.
And the second type is that the collection be for accidents from the person. This is a matter of concern, because it may open the door to negligence from these reckless people who do not care, so it is looked into.
As for zakah, zakah is not obligatory on this collected money, because this collected money has no owner, and one of the conditions for the obligation of zakah is ownership. This does not have an owner. If one of these donors wanted to withdraw his donation, he would not be able to, because it is not his property. It has now transferred to public ownership, which is not specific to one person over another. Yes.