Is zakah obligatory on land that its owner intends to sell?
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Question:
We proceed to the first letter, which came from the listener: Ali Tahir al-Tahir, a Syrian resident of Dammam. He has two questions in his letter:
In his first question, he says: I had purchased a plot of land to build a residence on it; but for several reasons, I was unable to do so, and I decided to sell it. Is there zakah on it? How is it calculated if its price was seventy-five thousand Syrian pounds when I bought it? And do I pay zakah on it from the time I bought it, or only for the last year in which I decided to sell it?
Please advise us, may Allah preserve you.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon His servant and messenger, His choice from among His creation, and His trustee over His revelation, our Prophet, our Imam, and our master Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows his guidance. As for what follows:
Land that its owner intends to build on for residence has no zakah on it. Likewise, if he intends to build on it for rental, there is no zakah on it. Or if he is undecided and has no certainty whether he will build for residence or for trade, or for something else, there is no zakah on him. But if it is for rental, he pays zakah on the rent. If he rents it out and obtains... rent, and a lunar year passes over it, he pays zakah on the rent when the lunar year has passed. However, if he intends to sell it, he pays zakah on it from the time he intends to sell it.
So this land mentioned by the questioner entered the lunar year, according to the correct view, from the time he intended to sell it. So when the lunar year has passed over it, he pays zakah on its value that it equals when the lunar year has passed over it.
As for the price he paid for it, that is not looked at. Rather, one looks at its value when the lunar year has completed over it after the intention to sell, whether the value is less than the price or more. This is the preferred and stronger position in such a case. Yes.
We proceed to the first letter, which came from the listener: Ali Tahir al-Tahir, a Syrian resident of Dammam. He has two questions in his letter:
In his first question, he says: I had purchased a plot of land to build a residence on it; but for several reasons, I was unable to do so, and I decided to sell it. Is there zakah on it? How is it calculated if its price was seventy-five thousand Syrian pounds when I bought it? And do I pay zakah on it from the time I bought it, or only for the last year in which I decided to sell it?
Please advise us, may Allah preserve you.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon His servant and messenger, His choice from among His creation, and His trustee over His revelation, our Prophet, our Imam, and our master Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows his guidance. As for what follows:
Land that its owner intends to build on for residence has no zakah on it. Likewise, if he intends to build on it for rental, there is no zakah on it. Or if he is undecided and has no certainty whether he will build for residence or for trade, or for something else, there is no zakah on him. But if it is for rental, he pays zakah on the rent. If he rents it out and obtains... rent, and a lunar year passes over it, he pays zakah on the rent when the lunar year has passed. However, if he intends to sell it, he pays zakah on it from the time he intends to sell it.
So this land mentioned by the questioner entered the lunar year, according to the correct view, from the time he intended to sell it. So when the lunar year has passed over it, he pays zakah on its value that it equals when the lunar year has passed over it.
As for the price he paid for it, that is not looked at. Rather, one looks at its value when the lunar year has completed over it after the intention to sell, whether the value is less than the price or more. This is the preferred and stronger position in such a case. Yes.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.