Follow-up: Is zakah due on an amount borrowed from someone?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The questioner : I say, O Shaykh: If a person, for example, requests an amount and it is a loan, is zakah due on it, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. This debt, whether it is a loan, the price of a sale, rent for a house, or something else, if it is owed by a solvent person, its zakah becomes obligatory every year. You may pay its zakah along with your own wealth if you wish, or you may set aside the zakah, and when you receive the debt, you pay the zakah for the time that has passed. However, if it is owed by an insolvent person who cannot pay, or by a wrongdoer from whom you cannot recover your right, then there is no zakah on it. But when you receive it, even after ten years, you pay zakah for one year, the year of receipt. This is the stronger opinion, the middle ground between two opinions: one that says there is no zakah if it is owed by an insolvent person, and you do not pay zakah on it until you receive it and a year has passed.
The second opinion is that there is zakah on it even if it is owed by an insolvent person. The correct view is what we mentioned to you: the detailed ruling. If it is owed by a solvent person from whom you can recover it, you must pay its zakah every year. If it is owed by an insolvent person or by someone you cannot demand payment from, there is no zakah on it, but when you receive it, you pay zakah for one year for the time that has passed.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The questioner : I say, O Shaykh: If a person, for example, requests an amount and it is a loan, is zakah due on it, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. This debt, whether it is a loan, the price of a sale, rent for a house, or something else, if it is owed by a solvent person, its zakah becomes obligatory every year. You may pay its zakah along with your own wealth if you wish, or you may set aside the zakah, and when you receive the debt, you pay the zakah for the time that has passed. However, if it is owed by an insolvent person who cannot pay, or by a wrongdoer from whom you cannot recover your right, then there is no zakah on it. But when you receive it, even after ten years, you pay zakah for one year, the year of receipt. This is the stronger opinion, the middle ground between two opinions: one that says there is no zakah if it is owed by an insolvent person, and you do not pay zakah on it until you receive it and a year has passed.
The second opinion is that there is zakah on it even if it is owed by an insolvent person. The correct view is what we mentioned to you: the detailed ruling. If it is owed by a solvent person from whom you can recover it, you must pay its zakah every year. If it is owed by an insolvent person or by someone you cannot demand payment from, there is no zakah on it, but when you receive it, you pay zakah for one year for the time that has passed.