Is it obligatory for a person to accumulate wealth in order to pay its zakah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Here we ask: Is it obligatory for a person to accumulate dirhams in order to purify them? This is an incidental issue, a parenthetical point: Is it obligatory to accumulate wealth in order to pay its zakah?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Now, is it obligatory for him to pay zakah when a lunar year has passed over a nisab of dirhams?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What is the difference? They say the difference is that what without which the obligation does not become complete is not itself obligatory. No, what without which the obligation does not become complete is not obligatory, but what without which the obligatory act does not become complete is itself obligatory. So acquiring wealth in order to pay zakah is acquiring the condition for the obligation of zakah. Similarly, regarding Hajj: do we say it is obligatory for a person to accumulate wealth in order to perform Hajj, or do we say if he has wealth, let him perform Hajj? The latter. As for the former, it is not obligatory, yes?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Now, is it obligatory for him to pay zakah when a lunar year has passed over a nisab of dirhams?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What is the difference? They say the difference is that what without which the obligation does not become complete is not itself obligatory. No, what without which the obligation does not become complete is not obligatory, but what without which the obligatory act does not become complete is itself obligatory. So acquiring wealth in order to pay zakah is acquiring the condition for the obligation of zakah. Similarly, regarding Hajj: do we say it is obligatory for a person to accumulate wealth in order to perform Hajj, or do we say if he has wealth, let him perform Hajj? The latter. As for the former, it is not obligatory, yes?