** (Series of Answers by the Eminent Scholar Ata bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir, to the Questions of the Followers of his Facebook Page "Fiqhi")**
Question:
Peace be upon you. I have an amount of money that reached the nisab and approximately a year has passed over it. When its Zakat became due, I needed it to fulfill a need and only a small portion remains. Is Zakat due on the original amount since a hawl has passed over it?
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
Zakat is not obligatory on wealth until it reaches the nisab and a full hawl (lunar year) passes over it reaching the nisab. On the authority of Ali bin Abi Talib, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:
إِذَا كَانَتْ لَكَ مِئَتَا دِرْهَمٍ، وَحَالَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ، فَفِيهَا خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ، وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ شَيْءٌ - يَعْنِي فِي الذَّهَبِ - حَتَّى يَكُونَ ذَلِكَ عِشْرُونَ دِينَاراً، فَإِذَا كَانَتْ لَكَ عِشْرُونَ دِينَاراً، وَحَالَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ، فَفِيهَا نِصْفُ دِينَارٍ
"If you have two hundred dirhams and a hawl 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 hawl has passed over them, then half a dinar is due." (Narrated by Abu Dawood)
The consideration is based on the Hijri hawl, not the Gregorian year. That is, if 354 days have passed since reaching the nisab, then the hawl has been completed and Zakat has become obligatory. Once Zakat becomes obligatory on a Muslim's wealth, it is not waived.
Accordingly, if a full hawl has passed over your money that reached the nisab in the manner we have explained, then Zakat has become obligatory. There is no significance to spending this money or a portion of it after the passing of the hawl; the Zakat remains obligatory upon it. You must pay it for the entire amount, whether it was spent or remains. This is a debt in your liability until you fulfill it; so hasten—may Allah have mercy on you—to pay it.
This applies if what you spent was after the passing of the hawl. As for if the spending occurred before the completion of the hawl, then Zakat is only obligatory on the amount present at the time the hawl is completed.
Your brother, Ata bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
Link to the answer from the website of the Ameer
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