How is the zakah of monthly salaries paid?
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The questioner : How is the zakah of monthly salaries paid?
The Shaykh : Yes, regarding the payment of zakah on monthly salaries: if a person spends his salary as soon as he receives it, such that nothing remains until the second month, then he owes no zakah. This is because one of the conditions for the obligation of zakah is the completion of a lunar year. However, if he saves, for example, if he spends half of his salary and saves the other half, then he owes zakah whenever the lunar year is completed; he pays the zakah on what he has.
But this involves hardship, as the person would have to calculate it month by month. To avoid this hardship, he designates one month for the zakah of all of it.
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh : For all the money he has, for example: if the lunar year for his first salary completes in the month of Muharram, then when the month of Muharram arrives in which the year of his first salary is completed, he calculates everything he has and determines its zakah. Thus, the zakah for the first month falls due upon the completion of the lunar year, and the zakah for the months following it is paid early, and paying early is permissible.
The questioner : So, what is the nisab?
The Shaykh : By Allah, the nisab for silver is fifty-six silver riyals, or its equivalent in paper currency. One asks the money changers about this; for example, one says, "What is the value of fifty-six silver riyals in paper currency?" If they say its value is, for example, five hundred, then the nisab is five hundred. If they say it is less or more, then it is according to that amount.
The Shaykh : Yes, regarding the payment of zakah on monthly salaries: if a person spends his salary as soon as he receives it, such that nothing remains until the second month, then he owes no zakah. This is because one of the conditions for the obligation of zakah is the completion of a lunar year. However, if he saves, for example, if he spends half of his salary and saves the other half, then he owes zakah whenever the lunar year is completed; he pays the zakah on what he has.
But this involves hardship, as the person would have to calculate it month by month. To avoid this hardship, he designates one month for the zakah of all of it.
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh : For all the money he has, for example: if the lunar year for his first salary completes in the month of Muharram, then when the month of Muharram arrives in which the year of his first salary is completed, he calculates everything he has and determines its zakah. Thus, the zakah for the first month falls due upon the completion of the lunar year, and the zakah for the months following it is paid early, and paying early is permissible.
The questioner : So, what is the nisab?
The Shaykh : By Allah, the nisab for silver is fifty-six silver riyals, or its equivalent in paper currency. One asks the money changers about this; for example, one says, "What is the value of fifty-six silver riyals in paper currency?" If they say its value is, for example, five hundred, then the nisab is five hundred. If they say it is less or more, then it is according to that amount.