A man has a laundry; is he required to pay zakah on the equipment he owns in it?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
May Allah reward you, O Shaykh. A man has a laundry, and some people told him: "You must pay zakah on the equipment you have." Is this correct?
The Shaykh : Repeat the question.
The questioner : A man has a laundry, and some people told him: "You must pay zakah on this laundry; you must give the zakah of this laundry on the equipment, and there is no zakah on it?"
The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Zakah is obligatory in goods held for trade, which are: what a person prepares for trade, entering and exiting his possession; whenever he sees a profit, he sells them, and whenever he does not obtain a profit, he holds onto them.
And the equipment of laundries is not prepared for trade, because the owner of the laundry wants it to remain with him; so it is part of what a person keeps in his home, such as furnishings, vessels, and the like. Therefore, there is no zakah on it. Whoever told him that there is zakah on it has erred. And the owner of the laundry, after my statement, should convey to him what I said, so that he does not issue a fatwa to others like that. However, the materials that are consumed, if there are materials he buys that are used up with the washing, these may be considered trade, such as if they are cleaning materials; these are trade because he earns a livelihood from them. As for the remaining items, there is no zakah on them. Yes.
May Allah reward you, O Shaykh. A man has a laundry, and some people told him: "You must pay zakah on the equipment you have." Is this correct?
The Shaykh : Repeat the question.
The questioner : A man has a laundry, and some people told him: "You must pay zakah on this laundry; you must give the zakah of this laundry on the equipment, and there is no zakah on it?"
The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Zakah is obligatory in goods held for trade, which are: what a person prepares for trade, entering and exiting his possession; whenever he sees a profit, he sells them, and whenever he does not obtain a profit, he holds onto them.
And the equipment of laundries is not prepared for trade, because the owner of the laundry wants it to remain with him; so it is part of what a person keeps in his home, such as furnishings, vessels, and the like. Therefore, there is no zakah on it. Whoever told him that there is zakah on it has erred. And the owner of the laundry, after my statement, should convey to him what I said, so that he does not issue a fatwa to others like that. However, the materials that are consumed, if there are materials he buys that are used up with the washing, these may be considered trade, such as if they are cleaning materials; these are trade because he earns a livelihood from them. As for the remaining items, there is no zakah on them. Yes.