What is the ruling on the hobby of collecting various foreign currencies, and is zakah due on them? And if they are no longer in circulation and time has passed, what is the ruling?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh: I have a relative who used to have a hobby of collecting foreign currencies in the past.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : I have a relative who used to have a hobby of collecting foreign currencies in the past, and he stopped. Does he have to pay zakah on them or not?
And if these currencies have been out of circulation for a long time and are no longer used, what is the ruling?
The Shaykh : It is known that this man bought them for trade?
The questioner : Not for trade; it is just a hobby, he only collects them.
The Shaykh : Do they have any value?
The questioner : Yes, they have some value, but they are old.
The Shaykh : Recently?
The questioner : Their validity has ended; most of them are not used anymore.
The Shaykh : First, we say: if he acquired them for the purpose of trade, meaning he earns from them, buying this currency for 10 and then selling it for 20, these are goods for trade. Their value is assessed at the completion of the lunar year, and one-fifth of a tenth is paid out.
As for if it is merely a hobby and collection, if their monetary value remains, meaning the value of these coins, then zakah is paid on their value. If they have been invalidated and their use has ended, then nothing is due on them.
The questioner : Some of them are known to have lost their value in some countries, and in some countries it is not known whether they are used or not?
The Shaykh : He should look into it; what is the problem? A careful person looks into whether their validity has ended or not. If they say: their validity ended a year ago, then he owes nothing for that year that has passed. If they say: half a year, he also owes nothing, because the lunar year has not been completed.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : I have a relative who used to have a hobby of collecting foreign currencies in the past, and he stopped. Does he have to pay zakah on them or not?
And if these currencies have been out of circulation for a long time and are no longer used, what is the ruling?
The Shaykh : It is known that this man bought them for trade?
The questioner : Not for trade; it is just a hobby, he only collects them.
The Shaykh : Do they have any value?
The questioner : Yes, they have some value, but they are old.
The Shaykh : Recently?
The questioner : Their validity has ended; most of them are not used anymore.
The Shaykh : First, we say: if he acquired them for the purpose of trade, meaning he earns from them, buying this currency for 10 and then selling it for 20, these are goods for trade. Their value is assessed at the completion of the lunar year, and one-fifth of a tenth is paid out.
As for if it is merely a hobby and collection, if their monetary value remains, meaning the value of these coins, then zakah is paid on their value. If they have been invalidated and their use has ended, then nothing is due on them.
The questioner : Some of them are known to have lost their value in some countries, and in some countries it is not known whether they are used or not?
The Shaykh : He should look into it; what is the problem? A careful person looks into whether their validity has ended or not. If they say: their validity ended a year ago, then he owes nothing for that year that has passed. If they say: half a year, he also owes nothing, because the lunar year has not been completed.