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It was during the month of Ramadân in the second year of the
Hegira when it became fard to pay zakât. Zakât has one fard: It is
to reserve at a certain time a certain amount of one’s property of
zakât, which is one’s full property and which has reached the
amount of nisâb,[1] with the intention of zakât, and to give it to
those prescribed Muslims as commanded. Full property means
one’s own property that has come through halâl (legitimate)
means and which is possible and halâl (permitted) for one to use.
The property of a waqf is no-one’s property. If one has not mixed
one’s own possessions with the harâm possessions such as those
obtained through usurpation, theft, bribery, gambling or by selling
alcohol, or if one has not mixed with one another those harâm
possessions which one obtained from various people, such
property never becomes one’s own property. It is not halâl for one
to use them or to make them one’s means of subsistence. One
cannot use them to make mosques or in any other pious deeds. It
is not fard for one to pay their zakât. That is, they are not counted
in calculating the nisâb of zakât. If their owners or their heirs are
known it is fard for one to return those goods to them. If they are
not known one may distribute all of the (harâm) possessions to the
poor as alms though one will (still) have to compensate for the
possessions if, later, their owners or their owners’ heirs appear
with a demand for compensation. If the possesions are not durable
and will deteriorate until one finds their owners, it is permissible to
[1] Ni sâb me ans bor der. The bor der between rich ness and poverty
prescribed by Is lam is ter med ni sâb.
use them and to indemnify afterwards, that is, to pay their
equivalents or, if their equivalents are not avaliable, to pay for
them. Please see the definition of Mulk-i-khabîth given in pages
ahead and also in the forty-second chapter of the first fascicle of
Endless Bliss. A person who holds a share in a company of
commerce, if his share is as much as the nisâb, has to calculate the
zakât of his share and pay it. Ibni ’Âbidîn says in the subject of
Bey’ wa Shirâ (buying and selling)[1]: “Religious officials are not
permitted to sell the provisions they are to obtain from pious
foundations before they take possession of them. For, though they
are rightful entitlements, goods rightfully entitled to a person do
not become his property before he takes possession of them. The
booties (ghanîma) taken away from the enemy rightfully belong to
the soldiers when they are taken to the Dâr-ul-islâm. But they do
not become their property before they are divided into shares and
distributed.” For this reason, the salaries and wages that civil
servants and employees are to receive do not become their
property before they receive them. The zakât of a salary or a wage
is not given before it is received. The money deducted from them
by unions or insurance companies, or the deductions for savings,
bonds, are not included in the calculation of zakât. When it is
received years later, only the money received is added to the basic
amount for the year’s zakât. The case is not so with the bonds
taken in exchange for what is sold. These and stocks and securities
are included in the zakât every year.
The ’ulamâ of the Hanafî Madhhab stated that it is fard for
every male or female Muslim who is mukallaf, that is, who is
discreet and has reached the age of puberty [the age when he or
she has begun to become junub and must perform the ablution of
ghusl], and who is free, to pay zakât when he or she has the
conditions. To pay zakât it is necessary to put the goods into the
poor person’s possession, that is, to hand them to him. If a poor
and discreet orphan’s walî feeds him, this does not count as zakât.
But if he hands the food to the orphan, or if the walî clothes the
orphan, zakât has been paid. If he eats with the poor orphan who
has not reached the age of discretion, he has paid zakât. Being a
walî is possible by being appointed the orphan’s guardian by the
orphan’s father or by a judge. Because the appointed person has
the right to take the presents to be given to the orphan and give
them to him, he can also buy clothes, food and other necessary
[1] Please see the twenty-ninth chapter for Bey’ and Shirâ.
things with his own zakât, (which he has to pay,) and give them to
him. It is written in Bezzâziyya that the maintenance given to one’s
poor relatives by a judge’s decision is comparable to this. Yet the
zakât intended (to be paid) to other poor people must be paid
(only from the property of zakât concerned) without any
substitution. Imâm Nasafî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ wrote in Zahîra: “It
is written in Ziyâdât[1] that a rich person will not have paid zakât by
buying food and giving it to the poor.” It is written in Bezzâziyya
and in Fatâwâ-i Hindiyya: “If one gives the flesh of one’s Qurbân
to the poor with the intention of the zakât of one’s sheep, it will not
be zakât.” It is written in Îdâh[2]: “The zakât which is to be given to
a child or to an insane person can be given to his father, to his
relative who is his walî, or to his wasî.”
In all four Madhâhib (Madhhabs), there are four types of
property of zakât:
1 – Quadruped animals that graze freely in the fields for the
major part of the year.
2 – Gold and silver.
The author of Durr-ul Muntaqâ ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’[3] states:
“When over twelve carats, the zakât of gold and silver is to be paid,
whether they be used as currency or used in a halâl way, such as
jewelry by women, or used in a harâm way, such as men’s wearing
gold rings, or they be kept in order to buy a residence, food or
shrouds or even if they are necessities like a sword [or a gold
tooth].” Hence, it is harâm for men to wear gold rings. Please see
the final pages of the second chapter of the sixth fascicle of Endless
Bliss.
3 – Commercial property or commodity which is bought for
trade and kept for trade.
While explaining the causes and the conditions of zakât,
Hadrat Ibni ’Âbidîn ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ stated: “The property
should have been bought with the intention of trading. Even if one
intends to trade in things that come out of land areas liable to the
’Ushr, or which are obtained through inheritance, or which have
become one’s property when one has accepted them, such as
[1] Written by Muhammad Shaybânî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (135
[752 A.D.], Wâsit – 189 [805], Ray.)
[2] Or Izâh, a commentary, rendered by Kermânî, to the Mukhtasar-iQudûrî, which in turn had been written by Abul-Husayn ’Ahmad bin
Muhammad Baghdâdî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’.
[3] Alâ-ud-Dîn Haskafî, (1021, Haskaf – 1088 [1677 A.D.].)
presents and bequests, they do not become commercial property.
For, the intention of trading is valid only in buying and selling. For
example, if a person who obtains wheat from his field pays its
’Ushr or who has obtained urûz through inheritance keeps it with
the intention of selling it, and if it is more than the amount of nisâb
and is kept for more than a year, it is not necessary to pay its
zakât.” If he sows in his field the wheat which he has bought for
trade [in order to sell], or if he intends to use personally the animal
or the cloth which he has bought for trade, it is no longer
commercial property. If later he intends to sell it, it does not
become commercial property. The goods that he obtains by selling
it or by renting it out become commercial property. If after buying
he intends to sell the property which he has bought for use, or if
when obtaining he intends to sell the urûz which he has obtained
by inheritance or such things as presents, bequests and alms which
become his property by his accepting them, or if he intends to sell
the wheat he gets from his field, they do not become commercial
property. If he sells them and if while selling them he intends to
use in trade the urûz which (he gets in exchange for them and
which) are their themens (badals), these badals (prices, values)
become commercial property. For, trade is an activity. It does not
happen only with an intention. It is necessary to begin it as well.
But desisting from trade happens only with an intention. In fact,
desisting from everything can be done with an intention only.
Likewise, one does not become a musâfir and break one’s fast only
with an intention. Nor does a disbeliever become a Muslim or an
animal sâima[1]. But the reverse of these happen only with an
intention. One’s gold and silver belongings and paper money are
property of zakât, by whatever means one has obtained them.
4 – Things coming out from all kinds of land that are watered by
rains, rivers or brooks and which are not taxed with kharâj, (even
if they are not kinds of land with ’Ushr), or from the land
belonging to a Waqf (pious foundation). Their zakât is termed
’Ushr. It has been commanded in the hundred and forty-first âyat
of An’âm Sûra of the Qur’ân to pay the ’Ushr,[2] and has been
elucidated in a hadîth-i-sherîf to give one-tenth. ’Ushr is one-tenth
of the crops. But kharâj can be one-fifth, one-fourth, one-third, or
half. It is necessary to pay either the ’Ushr or the kharâj of land. A
[1] See THE ZAKÂT OF ANIMALS, in the following pages.
[2] “…Eat of their fruit in their season, but render the dues that are
proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. …” (6:141)
person who is indebted to people does not deduct the amount of
his debt, but pays the precise amount of his ’Ushr.
There is one fard in zakât: To make an intention (niyyat). An
intention is made with the heart. When reserving or giving the
zakât of one’s property, if one intends, “I shall pay the zakât for
Allah’s sake”, and then says that one lends it or that one gives it as
a present while giving it to the poor or to the person whom one has
appointed one’s deputy to pay it to the poor on one’s behalf, it is
acceptable. Words are not important. If one intends for zakât and
for alms at the same time, it becomes zakât according to Imâm-iAbû Yûsuf. According to Imâm-i-Muhammad ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ
’alaih’, however, it is alms, and one has not paid one’s zakât. The
debt of zakât of a person who has died intestate is not to be paid
from the property he has left behind. For, he should have intended
to do so. His inheritors may pay it from their own property. [In this
case the isqât[1] of the zakât will have been performed]. If one does
not intend while reserving the zakât or while giving it to the poor
and intends long after giving it, it is acceptable as long as the
property is in the poor’s possession. The intention which one makes
while giving the zakât to one’s deputy is enough. It is not necessary
for the deputy also to intend while paying it to the poor. It is also
permissible for one to appoint a zimmî, that is, a countryman who
belongs to another religion, one’s deputy to pay one’s zakât to the
Muslim poor. Yet it is not permissible to send a zimmî as one’s
deputy for Hajj (pilgrimage). For, only the rich person himself has
to intend for zakât. However, for Hajj the deputy also has to intend.
If the rich person says (and intends) that it is alms or that it is
kaffârat or that it is a present while handing the zakât to his deputy
and if he intends for zakât before his deputy has given it with the
former intention to the poor, it will be acceptable.
If a person who is the deputy of two rich people mixes their
zakâts with each other without their knowing of it and then gives it
to the poor, zakât has not been paid. The deputy has given alms.
The deputy will pay for the zakâts. While explaining this on the
eleventh page, Ibni ’Âbidîn states: “He having mixed the two
amounts of zakât with each other, they have become his property.
He has given the poor his own property.” If he has mixed them with
the permission of the two rich persons or if he has gotten permission
after mixing them and before giving them to the poor, it is
acceptable. It is permissible for a person who is the deputy of the
[1] Please see the twenty-first chapter for ‘isqât’.
poor to mix the zakâts he received without letting them know and
then to pay them to the poor persons. It has been said (by some
savants) that it is also permissible for the deputy of the two rich
persons to pay them after mixing them without permission. If a rich
person says to another person, [or writes to a person living
overseas,] “Give this much gold as zakât on my behalf,” (or if he
writes to a person in another city by letter), and if the latter buys the
gold ordered with his own money and gives it to the poor, it is
acceptable. According to Imâm-i Yusûf ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, this
person will ask for his money from the rich person later. Imâm-iMuhammad ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ said: “He can ask for it if
the rich person told him that he would pay him later. Otherwise he
cannot ask for it.” It has been said (by savants) that if the deputy
gives the zakât he has to poor people not nominated by the rich
person and if the rich person agrees to it later, it is acceptable. If a
person who has said (to his deputy), “Give alms to the poor on my
behalf,” has not also said, “I shall pay you later,” he will not (have
to) pay him. A rich person can give his deputy as much zakât as he
would like to have distributed to the poor. The deputy of poor
people cannot receive zakât more than the amount of nisâb for each
poor person. A poor person’s deputy’s getting possession of his (the
poor person’s) zakât, means the poor person’s possessing his own
zakât. The property thereby paid is the poor person’s property. The
zakât is not paid for animals and commercial goods belonging to a
Waqf, (which is explained in the forty-fourth chapter.)
Endless Bliss
