How to calculate the zakah of one who has merchandise and debts owed to him and by him
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Q: (A) A man who works in trade and deals with foreign companies by purchasing on credit, and the lunar year has passed, and he has large amounts in his liability.
So he asks: If he wants to pay the debts he owes to these companies before their due dates, and a few days before the completion of the lunar year, in order to avoid the zakah on these amounts that are in his liability, and the time for paying them will come a few days after the lunar year, does he sin with this intention?
(B) How does he calculate the zakah on his wealth if it is as follows, for example:
1- The value of the merchandise in the warehouse at the end of the lunar year is (200,000) riyals.
The value of the debts he owes is (300,000).
The value of the debts owed to him is (200,000).
Cash and bank balance is (100,000).
If some of the amounts whose due date has arrived, and he delayed in paying them, and the lunar year passed, and he took them out of his cash box to pay them to their owners after the inventory, and excluded them from the total of his wealth, and deducted them from the debts he owes, does this exempt him from their zakah?
A: If the one who owes debts pays his debts before the completion of the lunar year, there is no zakah on him, and there is no harm in that. And Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), the Rightly Guided Caliph, used to order the one who owed a debt to pay his debt before the zakah became due. And there is no harm in the creditor accepting part of his debt; so that he can settle the rest before the due date, in the most correct of the scholars' opinions, because of the mutual benefit for the creditor and the debtor, as long as it is far from riba (usury or interest).
As for the value of the merchandise in the warehouses, its zakah is obligatory upon him at the completion of the lunar year, and likewise the balance he has in the bank, its zakah is calculated at the completion of the lunar year.
As for the debts he has with people, there is a detail: What is owed by those who are able to pay, its zakah is obligatory at the completion of the lunar year; because it is like the balance in the bank. And as for what is owed by those who are unable to pay or those who delay payment, there is no zakah on it according to the most correct of the scholars' opinions. And some scholars held the view that he should calculate zakah on it after receiving it, for only one year, and this is a good opinion, and it is cautious, but that is not obligatory in the most correct opinion; because zakah is a means of support, and zakah is not obligatory on wealth one does not know whether it will be obtained or not; because it is owed by those who are unable to pay or those who delay payment, or the like, such as lost wealth, lost animals, and the like.
And as for the debt he owes, it does not prevent the zakah in the most correct of the scholars' opinions.
And as for what he took from his wealth to pay to the creditors, and the lunar year passed upon him before he paid it to the creditors, its zakah is not dropped, rather he must calculate zakah on it; because the lunar year passed upon him while it was in his ownership. And success is from Allah.
So he asks: If he wants to pay the debts he owes to these companies before their due dates, and a few days before the completion of the lunar year, in order to avoid the zakah on these amounts that are in his liability, and the time for paying them will come a few days after the lunar year, does he sin with this intention?
(B) How does he calculate the zakah on his wealth if it is as follows, for example:
1- The value of the merchandise in the warehouse at the end of the lunar year is (200,000) riyals.
The value of the debts he owes is (300,000).
The value of the debts owed to him is (200,000).
Cash and bank balance is (100,000).
If some of the amounts whose due date has arrived, and he delayed in paying them, and the lunar year passed, and he took them out of his cash box to pay them to their owners after the inventory, and excluded them from the total of his wealth, and deducted them from the debts he owes, does this exempt him from their zakah?
A: If the one who owes debts pays his debts before the completion of the lunar year, there is no zakah on him, and there is no harm in that. And Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), the Rightly Guided Caliph, used to order the one who owed a debt to pay his debt before the zakah became due. And there is no harm in the creditor accepting part of his debt; so that he can settle the rest before the due date, in the most correct of the scholars' opinions, because of the mutual benefit for the creditor and the debtor, as long as it is far from riba (usury or interest).
As for the value of the merchandise in the warehouses, its zakah is obligatory upon him at the completion of the lunar year, and likewise the balance he has in the bank, its zakah is calculated at the completion of the lunar year.
As for the debts he has with people, there is a detail: What is owed by those who are able to pay, its zakah is obligatory at the completion of the lunar year; because it is like the balance in the bank. And as for what is owed by those who are unable to pay or those who delay payment, there is no zakah on it according to the most correct of the scholars' opinions. And some scholars held the view that he should calculate zakah on it after receiving it, for only one year, and this is a good opinion, and it is cautious, but that is not obligatory in the most correct opinion; because zakah is a means of support, and zakah is not obligatory on wealth one does not know whether it will be obtained or not; because it is owed by those who are unable to pay or those who delay payment, or the like, such as lost wealth, lost animals, and the like.
And as for the debt he owes, it does not prevent the zakah in the most correct of the scholars' opinions.
And as for what he took from his wealth to pay to the creditors, and the lunar year passed upon him before he paid it to the creditors, its zakah is not dropped, rather he must calculate zakah on it; because the lunar year passed upon him while it was in his ownership. And success is from Allah.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.