(Series of answers by the eminent scholar Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir, to questions from his Facebook followers)
To: Hisham Jaawan - Mohammad Alissa - Said Ghorzi - Abu Ahmad - Ayman Mahmoud Hamdi - Ashraf Majid Khalil Ibrahim
Questions from:
Hisham Jaawan If I have an amount of money, should I compare it to the nisab (threshold) of gold or silver? In other words, what is the nisab for local currency?
Mohammad Alissa Is there Zakat on real estate trade?
Said Ghorzi There is another issue: is it permissible to deal with the paper currency currently in circulation? The scholars of the Salaf (predecessors) did not permit dealing with it because it does not comply with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq’s definition of currency. Its danger has become clear to us with the emergence of inflation, which results from paper currency; it disappears with the disappearance of the state that sponsors it, unlike gold and silver. The best evidence is that despite the fall of the Ottoman State in the twentieth century, the colonialists seized all its currencies in the subordinate countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco. A Spanish researcher confirmed that the Islamic Ummah will only rise by following a successful economic method, and the Ummah's economy will only succeed by reviving the Islamic gold Dinar and silver Dirham.
Abu Ahmad As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Do I pay Zakat if it reaches the nisab of gold or silver? The latter is estimated at one thousand Jordanian Dinars and gold at two and a half thousand? Peace.
Ayman Mahmoud Hamdi Is "price-hood" (at-thamaniyyah) a rational cause ('illah 'aqliyyah)? Is it appropriate to cite it in Shari'i rulings?
Ashraf Majid Khalil Ibrahim If you have two hundred dirhams and a year passes over them, then five dirhams are due. Is what is meant here the Sadaqah of al-riqah or the nisab of Zakat being 200 dirhams?
The answer to the six questions, as they are related to the same subject:
Wa Alaykum as-Salam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
The nisab of gold is twenty Dinars, which is equivalent to "85 grams of gold," because one Dinar equals 4.25 grams of gold. If multiplied by twenty Dinars, the nisab is "85 grams of gold." The nisab of silver is two hundred Dirhams, which is equivalent to "595 grams of silver," because one Dirham weighs "2.975 grams of silver." If multiplied by two hundred Dirhams, the nisab is "595 grams of silver." The evidence for this is what Abu Ubaid narrated in Al-Amwal from Abdullah bin Amr (ra), who said: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
لَيْسَ فِي أَقَلَّ مِنْ عِشْرِينَ مِثْقَالا مِنَ الذَّهَبِ، وَلَا فِي أَقَلَّ مِنْ مِائَتَيْ دِرْهَمٍ صَدَقَةٌ
"There is no Sadaqah (Zakat) in less than twenty mithqals of gold, nor in less than two hundred dirhams."
And what Al-Bukhari narrated from Yahya bin Umarah bin Abi al-Hasan, that he heard Abu Sa'id (ra) saying: The Prophet (saw) said:
لَيْسَ فِيمَا دُونَ خَمْسِ أَوَاقٍ صَدَقَةٌ
"There is no Sadaqah in less than five uqiyahs."
And its amount by count is two hundred Dirhams, because every uqiyah is forty Dirhams.
If gold reaches the nisab (85 grams) or silver reaches the nisab (595 grams), Zakat is not obligatory on them until a hawl (lunar year) has passed over the reaching of the nisab. That is, the hawl begins from the day the gold or silver reached the nisab. The consideration is the Hijri year; if the wealth reaches the nisab on the tenth of Muharram, for example, then Zakat becomes obligatory on this wealth upon the arrival of the tenth of Muharram of the following Hijri year. This is due to what At-Tirmidhi narrated from Ibn Umar, who said:
مَنْ اسْتَفَادَ مَالًا فَلَا زَكَاةَ فِيهِ حَتَّى يَحُولَ عَلَيْهِ الحَوْلُ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِ
"Whoever acquires wealth, there is no Zakat on it until a year has passed over it with its Lord (owner)."
The amount of Zakat obligatory on gold and silver is one-fortieth (2.5%). Thus, from the nisab of silver, it is five Dirhams, which is "14.875 grams" of silver; and from the nisab of gold, it is half a Dinar, which is "2.125 grams" of gold. This is due to what Ibn Majah narrated from Abdullah bin Waqid, from Ibn Umar and Aisha, that the Prophet (saw):
كَانَ يَأْخُذُ مِنْ كُلِّ عِشْرِينَ دِينَارًا فَصَاعِدًا نِصْفَ دِينَارٍ، وَمِنَ الْأَرْبَعِينَ دِينَارًا دِينَارًا
"Used to take half a Dinar from every twenty Dinars and above, and one Dinar from forty Dinars."
And because of what At-Tirmidhi narrated from Ali (ra), who said: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
فَهَاتُوا صَدَقَةَ الرِّقَةِ: مِنْ كُلِّ أَرْبَعِينَ دِرْهَمًا دِرْهَمًا، وَلَيْسَ فِي تِسْعِينَ وَمِائَةٍ شَيْءٌ، فَإِذَا بَلَغَتْ مِائَتَيْنِ فَفِيهَا خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ
"So bring the Sadaqah of silver (al-riqah): one Dirham for every forty Dirhams. There is nothing due on one hundred and ninety, but if it reaches two hundred, then there are five Dirhams due."
As we mentioned previously, Zakat is obligatory on gold and silver if they reach the nisab and a year has passed over the nisab. The Zakat is paid on the entire amount, not just on what exceeds the nisab. For example, whoever owns "170 grams" of gold and a year has passed over it, he must pay Zakat on the "170 grams," i.e., he pays one-fortieth of the "170 grams," which is: "4.25 grams" of gold (one full Dinar). He does not only pay for the "85 grams" that exceed the nisab, which would be "2.125 grams" of gold (half a Dinar). The same applies to silver; one-fortieth must be paid on the entire amount as long as it has reached the nisab and a year has passed.
The ruling of Zakat on gold is specific to pure gold (24 karat), and similarly, the ruling of Zakat on silver is specific to pure silver. If gold is mixed with something else or silver is mixed with something else, that amount is deducted from the weight so that what remains after deducting the mixed material reaches the nisab. If a person owns "85 grams" of 18-karat gold, he has not owned the nisab because the pure gold in it is less than 85 grams. The Zakat on a 24-karat gold bar differs from the Zakat on a bar of the same weight of 18-karat gold. Pure gold is estimated when calculating the nisab; thus, the nisab for 24-karat gold is 85g, but the nisab for 18-karat gold is more than that because it is mixed with non-gold materials by a ratio of one-quarter. This means 18-karat gold contains pure gold equivalent to three-quarters of 24-karat gold. Therefore, the nisab for 18-karat gold is one and one-third times the nisab of pure gold, which is 113.33g. Consequently, whoever owns 85g of pure 24-karat gold has reached the nisab; if a year passes, he pays 2.5% of its weight. But whoever owns 85g of 18-karat gold does not own the nisab until what he owns reaches 113.33g; when a year passes, he pays 2.5% of its weight. It is clear here that the consideration in Zakat is for the pure gold.
Zakat is an individual worship (ibadah fardiyyah), so it is not obligatory on a Muslim's wealth until his own wealth reaches the nisab. If a man owns 60 grams of gold and his wife, for example, owns 60 grams of gold, Zakat is not obligatory on either of them, even if their total combined wealth exceeds the nisab. Zakat only becomes obligatory when the wealth of one of them alone reaches the nisab. If the husband's wealth increases and he becomes the owner of 120 grams of gold, Zakat becomes obligatory on his wealth, and his wife's wealth (60 grams) is not added to it.
If the wealth to be zakated is mandatory currency (banknotes) or trade goods ('urud tijarah), it is valued by one of the two thresholds (nisabs), either the gold nisab or the silver nisab. If the two nisabs differ, as is the case in our current time where the silver nisab is much lower in value than the gold nisab, my view is that the estimation should be based on the lower of the two nisabs, which is the silver nisab, not the gold nisab. I say the lower of the two nisabs because if it reaches the lower threshold, he has become one of the people of Zakat; it is not permissible for him to bypass it waiting for the higher threshold. Rather, he must record this date on which he became one of the people of Zakat, and then after the passing of a year, he pays the Zakat. Furthermore, Zakat is a right of the poor and the needy...
إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ...
"Sadaqat (Zakat) is only for the poor and for the needy..." (QS At-Tawbah [9]: 60)
وَالَّذِينَ فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَعْلُومٌ * لِلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ
"And those within whose wealth is a known right * For the petitioner and the deprived." (QS Al-Ma’arij [70]: 24-25)
And he (saw) says:
فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَدَقَةً فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ تُؤْخَذُ مِنْ أَغْنِيَائِهِمْ وَتُرَدُّ عَلَى فُقَرَائِهِمْ
"Inform them that Allah has obligated upon them a charity (Sadaqah) from their wealth, to be taken from their rich and returned to their poor." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)
Accordingly, it is the interest of the right-holder (the poor) that is taken into consideration. Based on this, the nisab is estimated by the lower value, which means it is estimated by the silver nisab. This is my view, and Allah is most knowing and most wise.
As for why paper currency is zakated, it is because of the Shari'i cause ('illah shar'iyyah) derived from the texts. Shari'i causes are of four types as stated in the book The Islamic Personality (Ash-Shakhsiyyah al-Islamiyyah), Volume 3, in the chapter "Evidence of the 'Illah":
(It is clear from the inductive study of the Shari'i texts in the Book and the Sunnah that the Shari'i text indicates the cause: either explicitly (sarahatan), by allusion (dalalatan), by inference (istinbatan), or by analogy (qiyasan). There is no indication of the Shari'i cause except from the Shari'ah, i.e., from the texts considered as Shari'i texts, through these four states and no others.
The Shari'i text either indicates the cause explicitly within the text, or indicates it by allusion, meaning the words, structure, or order of the text point to it. Or it is inferred from a single text or specific multiple texts whose specific meaning—not their collective sum—understands that a thing is a cause. Or it is by analogy, by measuring a cause that was not mentioned in the text or the consensus of the Companions against another cause that was mentioned in the Book or the Sunnah (the text) or the consensus of the Companions, because it contains what was the reason for the Lawgiver to consider the cause as a cause. That is, this cause not mentioned in the text contains the same thing that the Lawgiver considered the motive for it being a cause; thus the aspect of causality (wajh al-'illiyyah) in it is the very same aspect of causality in the cause mentioned in the text.) End.
- For example: The explicit cause (sarahatan) mentioned in the text, such as:
كُنْتُ نَهَيْتُكُمْ عَنِ ادِّخارِ لُحُومِ الأَضاحِي لأَجْلِ الدّافَّةِ فَادَّخِرُوها
"I had forbidden you from storing the meat of the sacrifice because of the group that came (in need), but now you may store it."
إِنَّمَا جُعِلَ الاِسْتِئْذَانُ مِنْ أَجْلِ الْبَصَرِ
"Permission (to enter) was only ordained because of sight."
The cause is mentioned explicitly "for the sake of such..."
- For example: The cause by allusion (dalalatan), such as:
A- By way of alert and sign (tanbih wa ima'), like:
The Prophet (saw) said:
مَنْ أَحْيَا أَرْضًا مَيِّتَةً فَهِيَ لَهُ
"Whoever revives dead land, it belongs to him."
By using the "fa" of sequence and causation.
And he (saw) said:
مَلَكْتِ نَفْسَكِ فَاخْتَارِي
"You have become mistress of yourself, so choose."
B- By using an informative description that implies causality, like:
الْقَاتِلُ لاَ يَرِثُ
"The killer does not inherit." He excluded the killer from the heirs because he is a killer—an informative description.
فِيْ الْغَنَمِ السّائِمَةِ زَكَاةٌ
"In pasturing sheep (as-saimah), there is Zakat." He arranged Zakat for those that are not fed by their owner but graze in pastures (saimah)—an informative description.
And like:
أَيَنْقُصُ الرُّطَبُ إِذَا يَبِسَ؟ قَالُوا: نَعَمْ، قَالَ: فَلا إِذًا
"Do fresh dates decrease when they dry? They said: Yes. He said: Then no (it is not allowed) then."
From this, it was understood that the decrease is the cause for the prohibition of selling fresh dates for dry dates... etc.
- For example: The cause mentioned in the text by inference (istinbatan):
This is when the text, through its structure, provides an inferred cause for the ruling, and this cause is mentioned neither explicitly nor by allusion:
- It is narrated that Umar (ra) asked the Messenger of Allah (saw) about the kiss of a fasting person: does it spoil the fast? He (saw) said:
أَرَأَيْتَ لَوْ تَمَضْمَضْتَ أَكَانَ ذَلِكَ يُفْسِدُ الصَّوْمَ؟
"What do you think if you rinse your mouth, does that spoil the fast?"
He said: No. Thus, the non-spoiling of the fast by a kiss was inferred, just as rinsing the mouth does not spoil the fast unless it causes water to enter the throat. Thus, the kiss does not spoil the fast unless it causes the emission of semen. From this, the cause of spoiling the fast by a kiss was inferred, which is emission. This cause—emission—is called an inferred cause.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلَاةِ مِن يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ
"O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade." (QS Al-Jumu'ah [62]: 9)
This verse was brought to explain the rulings of Jumu'ah, not to explain the rulings of trade. If the prohibition of trade were not a cause for preventing the obligatory proceeding to Jumu'ah, it would not have been linked to the rulings of Jumu'ah. His saying (swt): ﴿وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ﴾ ("and leave trade"), although it is in the form of a command requesting abandonment—i.e., a prohibition—it is a decisive prohibition because the request is joined with the prevention of a permitted thing, in addition to the subject of the address being the proceeding to Jumu'ah prayer, which is an obligation. Thus, the prohibition of trade at the time of the call is a decisive prohibition.
From this verse, a cause for the prohibition of trade at the time of the call was inferred, which is distraction from the prayer. This is called an inferred cause, and the ruling revolves around it wherever it is found. Thus, trade is prohibited, leasing is prohibited, and any action that distracts from the prayer at the time of the call is prohibited by analogy.
- For example: The analogical cause ('illah qiyasiyyah):
If there is a cause by allusion in the text and there is an effective relationship between the cause by allusion and the original ruling, then this relationship can be used to analogize a new cause to the existing cause by allusion in the text. This new cause is called an analogical cause, and it is used in analogy to produce new rulings just like other types of causes. It is worth noting that the effective relationship between the cause and the ruling only exists if the cause by allusion is an informative description (for the reasoning and the aspect of causality), i.e., informing that such a description is a cause and also informing the reason for which that description was considered a cause, because this reason is what determines the effective relationship between the cause and the ruling.
- The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
لَا يَقْضِي الْقَاضِي وَهُوَ غَضْبَانُ
"A judge shall not pass a judgment while he is angry."
(Anger) is an informative description mentioned with the ruling, reasoned by anger.
However, this mentioned cause (by allusion), which is anger, is a description informing the effect of anger on judgment. There is an effective relationship between the cause by allusion (anger) and the original ruling (the prohibition of judging), and this effective relationship is the distraction of thought and disturbance of state. Every new informative description that contains this effective relationship, such as hunger for example, is analogized to the cause by allusion in the text due to the commonality of this relationship. The new informative description (hunger) is called an analogical cause. Thus, anger is a cause by allusion and hunger is an analogical cause due to the common effective relationship present in both causes: anger and hunger.
**All these causes are Shari'i causes because they are all based on the Shari'i text explicitly, by allusion, by inference, or by analogy. None of them are called a rational cause. Therefore, when the cause of "monetariness" was inferred from the Shari'i texts regarding Zakat on paper currency and the prohibition of Riba in them, it is a Shari'i cause inferred in the manner we explained in the book Funds in the Khilafah State (Al-Amwal):**
(However, since these mandatory papers have been conventionally adopted as currency and prices for things, and wages for benefits and services, and with them gold and silver are bought—just as all other trade goods and assets are bought—then "monetariness" (naqdiyyah) and "price-hood" (thamaniyyah) have been realized in them. These were realized in gold and silver when they were minted into Dinars and Dirhams.
This is because the texts regarding the Zakat of gold and silver are of two types:
The first: Evidence that stipulates Zakat on gold and silver as generic names, i.e., on the substances of gold and silver. These are rigid names (asma' jamidah) that are not suitable for reasoning (ta'lil), so they cannot be used for analogy. Therefore, there is no Zakat on other minerals like iron, copper, etc. Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger (saw) said:
... وَمَا مِنْ صَاحِبِ ذَهَبٍ وَلا فِضَّةٍ، لا يُؤَدِّي عَنْهَا حَقَّهَا، إِلا إِذَا كَانَ يَوْمُ الْقِيَامَةِ صُفِّحَتْ لَهُ صَفَائِحُ مِنْ نَارٍ
"...And there is no owner of gold or silver who does not pay its due right, except that on the Day of Resurrection, plates of fire will be flattened for him..." (Narrated by the Five except At-Tirmidhi). In this Hadith, the terms "gold" and "silver" appeared, and they are rigid names that are not reasoned.
The second: Evidence that stipulates Zakat on gold and silver as currency dealt with by people as prices and wages. From these evidences, a cause is inferred, which is "monetariness" (an-naqdiyyah). Mandatory paper currency is analogized to them because this cause is realized in it. Thus, the rulings of Zakat on currency are applied to them, by calculating what they equal in the market of gold or silver. From Ali bin Abi Talib, from the Prophet (saw), who said:
إِذَا كَانَتْ لَكَ مِئَتَا دِرْهَمٍ، وَحَالَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ، فَفِيهَا خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ، وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ شَيْءٌ - يَعْنِي فِي الذَّهَبِ - حَتَّى يَكُونَ ذَلِكَ عِشْرُونَ دِينَارًا، فَإِذَا كَانَتْ لَكَ عِشْرُونَ دِينَارًا، وَحَالَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ، فَفِيهَا نِصْفُ دِينَارٍ
"If you have two hundred dirhams and a year has passed over them, then five dirhams are due. You owe nothing—meaning in gold—until you have twenty dinars. If you have twenty dinars and a year has passed over them, then half a dinar is due." (Narrated by Abu Dawood). It was also narrated from Ali saying: "In every twenty dinars half a dinar, and in every forty dinars a dinar." And from Ali (ra) who said: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
.. فَهَاتُوا صَدَقَةَ الرِّقَةِ، فِي كُلِّ أَرْبَعِينَ دِرْهَمًا، دِرْهَمًا وَلَيْسَ فِي تِسْعِينَ وَمِائَةٍ شَيْءٌ، فَإِذَا بَلَغَتْ مِائَتَيْنِ فَفِيهَا خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ
"..So bring the Sadaqah of silver (al-riqah): one dirham for every forty dirhams. There is nothing due on one hundred and ninety, but if it reaches two hundred, then there are five dirhams due." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Ahmad). Also, Abdur Rahman al-Ansari narrated in the letter of the Messenger of Allah (saw) and the letter of Umar regarding Sadaqah:
.. وَالورِقُ لا يُؤْخَذُ مِنْهُ شَيْءٌ حَتَّى يَبْلُغَ مِئَتِي دِرْهَمٍ
"..And from silver (al-wariq), nothing is taken until it reaches two hundred dirhams." (Narrated by Abu Ubaid).
All these Hadiths indicated "monetariness" and "price-hood" because the terms al-riqah with the evidence "in every forty dirhams," al-wariq, dinar, and dirham, are terms applied to minted and coined gold and silver, i.e., those that are money and prices. Expressing with these terms indicates that "monetariness" and "price-hood" are intended from these Hadiths, and to them many Shari'i rulings are attached, such as Zakat, blood money (diyat), expiations (kaffarat), amputation for theft, and other rulings.
Since mandatory paper currency has realized this "monetariness" and "price-hood," it is included in the Hadiths regarding the obligation of Zakat on the two currencies, gold and silver. Thus, Zakat is obligatory on it, as it is obligatory on gold and silver, and it is valued by gold and silver. Whoever has an amount of these mandatory papers equal to the value of twenty gold Dinars—i.e., 85 grams of gold—which is the nisab of gold, or has an amount equal to the value of 200 silver Dirhams—i.e., 595 grams of silver—and a year has passed over it, Zakat is obligatory on him, and he must pay one-fortieth.) End.
Therefore, it cannot be said that "monetariness" and "price-hood" are a rational cause; rather, it is a cause inferred via Shari'ah from Shari'i evidences. It is one of the types of causes mentioned above in the classification of causes: explicit, by allusion, inferred, and analogical. All of them are Shari'i causes because they return to the Shari'i text.
Trade goods ('urud at-tijarah) are subject to Zakat, whether they are real estate, fabrics, grains, sheep, etc. We have explained the evidence for this in the book Funds in the Khilafah State (Al-Amwal) as follows:
(Trade goods are everything other than currency that is taken for trading, buying and selling with the intention of profit, including foodstuffs, clothing, furniture, manufactured goods, animals, minerals, land, buildings, and others that are bought and sold.
Goods taken for trade are subject to Zakat, without disagreement among the Companions. From Samurah bin Jundub who said:
أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ r كَانَ يَأْمُرُنَا أَنْ نُخْرِجَ الصَّدَقَةَ مِنَ الَّذِي نُعِدُّ لِلْبَيْعِ
"As for what follows: The Messenger of Allah (saw) used to command us to bring out the Sadaqah from that which we prepared for sale." (Narrated by Abu Dawood). And from Abu Dharr from the Prophet (saw) who said:
وَفِي الْبَزِّ صَدَقَتُهُ
"And in garments (al-bazz), there is its Sadaqah." (Narrated by Ad-Daraqutni and Al-Bayhaqi). Al-Bazz refers to the clothes and fabrics traded with. Abu Ubaid narrated from Abu Amrah bin Hamas from his father who said: "Umar bin al-Khattab passed by me and said: O Hamas, pay the Zakat on your wealth. I said: I have no wealth except for quivers and leather. He said: Value them, then pay their Zakat." And from Abdur Rahman bin Abdul-Qari who said: "I was in charge of the Treasury (Bayt al-Mal) during the time of Umar bin al-Khattab. When the distribution came out, he would collect the wealth of the merchants, then calculate it, both the present and the absent, then take the Zakat from the present wealth for both the present and the absent." (Narrated by Abu Ubaid). He also narrated from Ibn Umar who said: "Whatever slaves or garments are intended for trade, they are subject to Zakat." The obligation of Zakat on trades has been narrated from Umar, his son, Ibn Abbas, the Seven Jurists, Al-Hasan, Jabir, Tawus, An-Nakha'i, Ath-Thawri, Al-Awza'i, Ash-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Abu Ubaid, the people of opinion (ashab ar-ra'y), Abu Hanifa, and others.
Zakat is obligatory on trade goods if their value reaches the value of the gold nisab or the silver nisab, and a year has passed over them.
If a merchant starts his trade with wealth less than the nisab, and at the end of the year the wealth becomes a nisab, there is no Zakat on him; because a year has not passed over the nisab. Zakat will be obligatory on this nisab of his after a full year passes over it.
If a merchant starts his trade with wealth exceeding the nisab, such as starting his trade with one thousand Dinars, and at the end of the year his trade grows and profits and its value becomes three thousand Dinars, he must pay Zakat on the three thousand Dinars, not the one thousand Dinars he started with; because its growth follows it.) End. Accordingly, real estate prepared for trade is subject to Zakat as explained above.
When you reach the nisab, you can arrange the Zakat of your wealth as follows:
- Record the Hijri date when the wealth reaches the nisab.
- After a full Hijri year, calculate the wealth you have to see if it is at the nisab or more.
- Pay Zakat on all this wealth you have, not just what exceeded the nisab, but all the wealth: the nisab and what is above it.
- Then count your wealth every year on this date and zakat it all if it is at the nisab or more.
If a person forgets the date his wealth reached the nisab, he should estimate it, and in the estimation, he should consider the interest of those entitled to Zakat, because their right in the wealth takes precedence over his right as the owner of the wealth... meaning if his estimation ranges between the months of Muharram and Sha'ban, let him make the start of the year the month of Muharram, not Sha'ban. This is more cautious for his Deen, Allah willing.
We ask Allah (swt) that this is clear and sufficient.
Your brother, Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah
27 Jumada al-Akhirah 1439 AH Corresponding to 15/03/2018 CE
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