another zakat question

Society Religion & Philosophy
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do you give zakat on money loaned to people being 100% certain that they will return that money in a short amount of time but havent while you are paying zakat?

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Re: another zakat question

I have one too,If you have saved money to spend on a specific expense/item, do you have to pay zakat on that?Since, if i had that item or spent the money as expense, i woudn't be liable to pay zakat...its just that i don't have the full amount till now, so should i pay zakat on this saved money?

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Re: another zakat question

one more, if you have only one account which you use for everything, on what amount do you pay zakat? since that money fluctuates month to month even weekly? is it the amount you have on the day you pay zakat?

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Re: another zakat question

Its upto you, if you pay zakat on the amount of loan when it is receivable (during the period of loan). If you opt not to pay zakat during the period of loan, then you will have to pay zakat for all the years in the year when you recover the amount.

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Re: another zakat question

you have to fix a date for calculating zakat. Most people calculate zakat on 1st Ramadan. so, the amount in your account on 1st Ramadan (even there was a major fluctuation inflow / outflow in the account a day before Ramadan) is subject to zakat. Its not necessary that each single penny in your account had remained in your account for a year to be subjected to zakat.

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Re: another zakat question

sorry i didnt get this. the loan was given a month ago and is to be returned in another month so total time of the loan is two months.

can you please elaborate the bold part.

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Re: another zakat question

If loan is just for a short period and during that period zakat date arrives then include the amount of loan for zakat calculation purposes. If you don't include the loan amount then you will have to pay zakat in the year in which loan is recovered.

If loan was for long period (say 5 years) and you didn't pay zakat on amount loaned, you will have to pay zakat on the amount recovered in the year of recovery for all the years in between.

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Re: another zakat question

zakaat is due and payable always on assets that you own and is in your possession AND one whole year has passes.

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Re: another zakat question

very tricky question and if this situation is considered many people will stop paying zakat as everyone saves money for a specific item. Say I’ve some money and I want to buy home, should I not pay zakat. I would want someone to reply this with references.

What I remember just after your query is:

And they ask you what they should spend. Say, “The excess [beyond needs].”

Surat Al-Baqarah [2:219] - The Noble Qur’an - ??? ???

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Re: another zakat question

Thats what I thought, in your possession but I guess I have to pay zakat on the loan too
Btw your avatar is painful

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Re: another zakat question

Yea...so the thing is...it is not in excess of what I need.Lets say,if a person buys a car for his use. He is not needed to pay zakat on it (assuming the value of car is above the nisaab).....Now lets say, i am saving money to buy a car for my use,and the amount of saving is in excess of the nisaab amount, but not enough to buy the car. What then?

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Re: another zakat question

It says you have to pay zakat on your cash savings, irrespective of saving purpose

*(I am saving money for house; shall I give zakat? - Islam and the Quran)

*(Islamhelpline)

Zakat on money saved for house building ?

so I would pay, because payment of Zakat not only purify your wealth, but it also increases your wealth.

“…and He causes Charitable deeds to prosper.”
(Surah al-Baqarah 2: 276)**

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Re: another zakat question


since the amount of loan given by you is NOT in your possession therefore it's NOT zakaatable. you don't have to pay zakaat on that amount. wallaaho aalam bissawaab!

lol...ok, i'll change my avatar! :)

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Re: another zakat question

ok. And is having wealth for the whole year also necessary?if i got the wealth for only 3 months then? Do I pay zakat on time proportionate basis?and if wealth keeps fluctuating, then on weighted average balance?

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Re: another zakat question

It has been kept simple. The wealth you have on zakat calculation date (whether it remained with you for a whole year or just for day) is subject to zakat. Here is link to book of Mufti Taqi Usmani answering many of questions regarding zakat.

Aap Zakat Kis Tarah Ada Karayn By Shaykh Mufti Taqi Usmani |

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Re: another zakat question


no...one whole year has to pass before zakaat is due...it's post-pay NOT prepay.

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Re: another zakat question

One thing I can’t figure out is how to calculate from my rolling checking account.

There are some sources that say find the lowest balance you had during the year and pay zakat on that lowest balance. MUIS :: Zakat Administration

There are some who say to calculate your balance from your monthly bank statements…then add the balances for each month and then divide by twelve (basically trying to get an average monthly balance).

Hidaya Foundation Website (one place that I personally donate to) says that whatever your current balance is in your account on the day you are due to give zakat should be the amount x 2.5% .

My problem with that is what if I deposit a nice sum of cash a few weeks before zakat is due…why should I pay zakat on that since I did not hold it for a year.

Giving more is always good in terms of zakat but I want to know the proper shariah way. Any opinions on the “average daily balance” ?

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Re: another zakat question

What i heard is, if you are zakaat eligilbe i.e. you held nisab both at beginning and at the end of your zakat year. Then you have to give money at the year end balance (regardless of the fluctuations during the year).

Another way is to pay zakat on monthly basis...

I also had the same question in my mind, although i am going to give it at 2.5% of current balance, but in future i intend to calculate my zakat on monthly basis. Weighted average method seems just and equitable to me,i don't understand why molvies insist on year end balance only.I have yet to see any hadith which stipulates this condition.

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Re: another zakat question

Interesting conversation ... I have been looking closely at this very subject ...

Fact 1: The ruling for just paying zakat on the balance at the set date is actually a fatwa for making the calculation of zakat easy ... To be strict it is not the correct way of calculating zakat. But since it will either be exactly right or more than the amount due it is the oft repeated way by the muftis of calculating it.

Fact 2: Since income is not zakatable only saving and that is considered a saving when it matures for a year then and only then is that amount strictly zakatable. So all bubbles throughout the year going up due to a bonus or going down due to a bill payment are not part of the required amount for zakat.

There are a number of ways to calculate zakat ... based on the criteria given ...

Balance based, Lowest balance, Trapezium rule, 12 point moving average (if a monthly salary), monthly lows averaged over the year ... and so on ... Each one gives a slightly different value. From what is clear to me the most correct calculation is the "lowest balance in the year".

It is because the system is based around a merchant culture and it only makes sense to treat profit and loss account differently to the balance sheet.

Zakat is payable on all savings that have matured above a year. So if someone saves £1000 per month ... the amount subject to zakat at month 13 is £1000 not £12,000 since that value has not matured. But then some people argue that each month the previous £1000 is going to be subject to zakat again, and then again each month for each month saved, (which is where the ruling of zakat on balance amount comes from), but the counter argument to that is it is not considered saved money until the following zakat date. Effectively it means some value might be sitting in the account for up to 23 months before being subjected to zakat.

Another way is to have a monthly zakat calculation operating in the background summing it all up for your zakat payment date once a year. So each month the algorithm looks at the balance of the account 12 months ago and takes the difference with what is current and returns a zakatable value. This value is kept on record and summed up at the end of the term and factored by 0.025 to give the zakat value. Again this is probably the right way to do it ... but for most people it is too time consuming and difficult. I think these days with spreadsheets and online banking that is a lame excuse.

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Re: another zakat question

Imagine you have twelve pots one to represent each month of the lunar calendar ... So if you get a salary you put it in the pot corresponding to that month of receiving it. To make things more interesting because of the time slip between solar and lunar calendars it is probable that over a two or three year period you might have one or two empty pots.

If your consumption of your earning is done by using up the amount in one pot before moving to the next pot then that is the correct way to view consumption in an Islamic context. Let's say that any one pot takes 3 lunar months to deplete. So by the end of month three the first pot is now empty, but the second and third pot are full. By the end of month six, the first two pots are empty and the third, fourth, fifth and sixth pots are full, by the end of nine months the first three pots will be empty and so on until the end of twelve months where the first four months of pots will be empty ... So the zakat on month 13 is nil ... since the pot corresponding to that is pot 1 ... It will only be by the end of 1 year and 7 months when the zakat of pot 7 which would be about 2/3rd full would be subject to the year saving. Assuming each monthly earning was the same. Thereafter each month would have zakat based on the pot that came 12 months before it.