(Series of Answers by the Eminent Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir, to Questions from Visitors to His Facebook Page "Fiqhi")
Question Answer
To Abbas Hamamdeh
Question:
Savings in gold have been kept for years without zakat being paid on them; should zakat be paid for every year or only once in a lifetime? Also, is it permissible to pay it materially, i.e., in value? Thank you.
Answer:
Walaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
Before answering your question, I would like to point out that hoarding gold, silver, and money without a specific need is considered kanz (hoarding), even if its zakat is paid. Kanz is haram (forbidden), and among the evidences for its prohibition are:
- The Almighty said:
وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ * يَوْمَ يُحْمَى عَلَيْهَا فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ فَتُكْوَى بِهَا جِبَاهُهُمْ وَجُنُوبُهُمْ وَظُهُورُهُمْ هَذَا مَا كَنَزْتُمْ لِأَنْفُسِكُمْ فَذُوقُوا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْنِزُونَ
"And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah - give them tidings of a painful punishment. The Day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell and seared therewith will be their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, [it will be said], 'This is what you hoarded for yourselves, so taste what you used to hoard.'" (At-Tawbah [9]: 34-35)
- Ahmad narrated with a sahih chain of narrators from Abu Umamah, who said:
تُوُفِّيَ رَجُلٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الصُّفَّةِ، فَوُجِدَ فِي مِئْزَرِهِ دِينَارٌ، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ كَيَّةٌ، قَالَ: ثُمَّ تُوُفِّيَ آخَرُ فَوُجِدَ فِي مِئْزَرِهِ دِينَارَانِ، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: كَيَّتَانِ
"A man from the people of as-Suffah passed away, and a dinar was found in his waist-wrap. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: '(This is) a cauterization.' Then another died, and two dinars were found in his waist-wrap, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: '(These are) two cauterizations.'"
At-Tabari narrated something similar from Abu Umamah al-Bahili. This means the prohibition of hoarding gold and silver is absolute, even if it is only two dinars or one dinar, as long as it constitutes kanz, meaning storing money without a need for which it is intended to be spent. The Messenger ﷺ said this regarding these two men because they were living off charity while they possessed raw gold (tibr). He said: "a cauterization" and "two cauterizations," referring to the words of the Almighty: "The Day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell and seared therewith will be their foreheads, their flanks..." [At-Tawbah], which is part of the verse on kanz. This is evidence of the absolute prohibition of hoarding, whether it reaches the nisab (minimum threshold) of zakat or not, and whether zakat has been paid on it or not; all kanz is haram.
As for saving (iddikhar) for a need, it is permissible and the evidences for kanz do not apply to it. The difference between kanz (hoarding) and iddikhar (saving) is that hoarding is the act of accumulating currency on top of currency for no need, thereby withdrawing it from the market. Saving, however, is the storing of currency for a specific need, such as collecting money to build a house, to get married, to buy a factory, to start a business, or other such purposes.
If a person saves gold without a need, they are committing a sin because it constitutes hoarding (kanz) of gold, which is haram. Nevertheless, they must still pay zakat on the gold hoarded without a need, because the prohibition of hoarding does not waive the obligation of zakat. The same applies to saving for a need; it is not forbidden, but the owner must pay zakat if it reaches the nisab and a hawl (lunar year) has passed over it, because the permissibility of saving for a need does not waive the obligation of zakat.
The obligation of zakat is a yearly obligation, i.e., every Hijri year. If the wealth—gold, for example—reaches the nisab and a hawl passes over it, zakat becomes obligatory at the rate of a quarter of a tenth, i.e., 2.5%. If a person pays the zakat on their wealth after the year has passed, they have fulfilled their duty. If they delay the zakat and do not pay it for that year, it remains an obligatory debt upon them until they pay it for that specific year. Paying it for one Hijri year does not suffice for another Hijri year because zakat, as mentioned earlier, is an annual duty that is renewed with the passing of years as long as its causes and conditions exist.
Accordingly, if someone saves gold for a period of five Hijri years, for example, and the gold had reached the nisab at the beginning of the saving period, they must pay the zakat for five years at the end of the fifth year if they had not paid the zakat for this gold before. This is because the zakat for each Hijri year of the five years is a debt upon them that must be fulfilled. They must pay zakat five times, each time amounting to 2.5% of the gold they have saved. It should be noted that they are not required in the second year to pay zakat on the amount they paid as zakat in the first year (i.e., the 2.5% paid in the first year); rather, they only pay on the remaining 97.5%, paying 2.5% of that in the second year, and so on for the following years. That is, the decrease that occurred in the wealth after paying its zakat in previous years is taken into account in subsequent years.
As for paying zakat in a form other than the type of wealth itself (i.e., in value), this is permissible. For example, paying mandatory paper currency or silver or the like instead of gold.
It is stated in the book Al-Amwal (The Funds) – pages 155-156 of the Word file – the following:
(...It has been found in the Sunnah from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions that a right may be due on wealth, and then it is shifted to something else, the giving of which is easier for the giver than the original form. An example of this is the letter of the Prophet ﷺ to Mu'adh in Yemen regarding the Jizyah: "That upon every adult is one dinar or its equivalent in Ma’afir (Yemeni garments)" narrated by Abu Dawood. Thus, the Prophet ﷺ took goods instead of the currency, i.e., he took garments instead of gold. Another example is what he wrote to the people of Najran: "That they owe two thousand garments every year, or their equivalent in Uqiyahs (ounces of silver)" narrated by Abu Ubayd. Ibn Qudamah mentioned in Al-Mughni that Umar (ra) used to take camels in Jizyah instead of gold and silver, just as Ali used to take needles, ropes, and awls in Jizyah instead of gold and silver.) End quote.
Likewise, it is stated in the book Funds in the Khilafah State, page 165 of the Word file, the following:
(Zakat is paid for gold in gold, and in representative currency and secure currency. Zakat for silver is paid in silver, and in representative and secure currency. It is also sufficient to pay zakat for gold in silver and in mandatory paper currency, and for silver in gold and mandatory paper currency; because they are all money and prices, so they suffice for one another, and it is permissible to give some in place of others as the purpose is achieved by that. The evidences for taking the value instead of the actual wealth in which zakat is due have already been mentioned in the chapter on zakat of crops and fruits.) End quote.
It is clear from the above that it is permissible to pay zakat for gold and silver in the circulating paper currency according to the market price of gold and silver at the time of paying the zakat.
I hope this answer is sufficient.
Your Brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
01 Ramadan 1440 AH Corresponding to 06/05/2019 CE
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