Zakat

[jeffp]

How can we calculate zakat on cash if, for example, I had 100,000 at the start of the year, and since then, the amount fluctuated to a lowest point of 40,000 before returning to 70,000 at year-end?

 

[sbmor777]

@jeffp If you stayed above nisaab for the year, which in your example you did. Then you pay zakat on your current wealth, so the 70k.

 

[jeffp]

@sbmor777 Thank you for your answer

How about the situation if I had 110,000 at the year end? Should I pay zakat on 110,000 or 100,000(start of the year)?

 

[sbmor777]

@jeffp You would pay on the 110k. The simplest way to pay zakat is to calculate your zakatable assets at an point in time each year and pay on that.

 

[iamjezreel]

@jeffp The two opinions I'm aware of are:

• Pay on end amount.
• Pay on minimum amount reached throughout the year.

Read the evidence for each and decide which is the more valid one.

Add some sadaqah on top of course but the zakah is a set amount to pay.

 

[sbmor777]

@iamjezreel I've never heard of paying on the minimum reached during the year. Do you have any sources to scholars who support that method? I'm genuinely curious.

The only other opinion I've heard is you can pay zakat regularly throughout the year, such as monthly, so that you only pay on what you have had for 1 lunar year but that requires tracking your wealth monthly and too much work in paying zakat (at least for me) so the simplest method is the calculate current wealth and pay on that.

 

[iamjezreel]

@sbmor777 I've posted another more detailed comment.

Basically the money hasn't spent a year in your pocket yet, it's the spot value method that has some explaining to do.

Here is zakir naik explaining but any detailed discussion with any scholar should give you the same. They are just two methods, no difference of opinion as far as I understand.

I guess taking the minimum over the hawl is a sort of third method. So what I've come across is:

• Spend 11 months with the nisab, get a billion for a month, pay zakah on a billion even if you go back down below the nisab the next day.
• Check every day what money spent 12 lunar months in your pocket and pay it that day.
• Check once a year and pay zakah on the least value of the previous year.

Now I phrased 1 to be jarring but a version of it happens to most people whose rent eats up most of their salary, or who need to shift money around but never actually keep it long.

 

[princesst1]

@iamjezreel

Here is zakir naik

Naik is not alim, faqih nor mufti. He hasn't even studied usul ul fiqh from any madhahab. Do not confuse celebrity wit qualification.

 

[iamjezreel]

@princesst1 Every scholar agrees that zakah is only due if money has spent 12 lunar months in your pocket. To pay it on a spot sum is just a way of anticipating the full lunar year in advance which is a presumption made just for convenience.

As far as I know there is not even a difference of opinion on this matter. They are simply different methods of achieving the same end with one method being simpler but makes you overpay.

To copy my other comment:

I am yet to hear a single scholar who says you must give zakah on money that hasn't spent a year in your pocket.

If you're comfortable overpaying because it's what you are taught to do and it's easier that's fine but it is not even the base method.

This is how you phrase the question if you want to hear basically any scholar give you what to do on money that hasn't spent a year in your pocket مال لم يحل عليه الحول

 

[princesst1]

@iamjezreel Naik is not alim, faqih nor mufti. He hasn't even studied usul ul fiqh from any madhahab. Do not confuse celebrity wit qualification.

Now you post a video by a Wahabi who threaten to behead a person because they dare speak against MIAW, the najdi shaytaan.

contemporary Salafism is confined to reading limited books and having limited scholars (their own contemporary ones) because they are not allowed to do otherwise. If they go beyond that, they do not exceed the books of Ibn Taymiyyah but without understanding his words and methodology. Therefore, they do not know anything about the Hanbali school except what their contemporary scholars have repeated to them. When Allah Almighty revealed the Hanbali beliefs, it was a shock to them. Their Shaykhs, followers, and supporters started hurling insults, belittling and mocking.

Therefore, it was our duty to expose their selective, exclusionary, and innovative approach and their weakness in the methodological and cognitive research. We made it clear that they have no affiliation with the Hanbali school and our statement is firm.

https://thethinkingmuslim.com/2023/...en-hanbali-scholars-and-contemporary-salafis/

The fundamental problem with Salafism is that it results in someone issuing a religious verdict in a specialism that they are not actually specialized in. It is like a mechanic working on someone’s lungs instead of his car

https://seekersguidance.org/answers/seeking-knowledge/sects-and-salafism/

 

[iamjezreel]

@princesst1 Who do you want then a Maliki? What is your criteria for a scholar, every scholar will tell you the same. I am not aware of difference in opinion on this matter.

 

[loxjox]

@iamjezreel Please stop with stating #2 . Fear Allah.

in the Zakir naik video you posted as a source, he himself says there is a chance you can indeed pay less Zakat than owed; on the option #2 . This is something we should be fearful of.

Zakat isn't charity.

People should treat it as obligation and nothing less.

 

[iamjezreel]

@loxjox Zakat is not charity, it is an obligation, this is something that we ought to pay exactly. Therefore it is important we refer to what the Qur'an and Sunnah say on the matter, as explained by our scholars.

Instructing people to pay what they do not owe is not the only opinion, I will find you more scholars if you wish as you don't like the two already mentioned. In fact I expect no scholar will dare say that a Muslim must overpay zakah.

It is due on what has spent 12 months in your pocket. أما ما لم يحل عليه الحول فلا زكاة عليه لزوما

To be GodFearing you must avoid commanding what is not obligatory, it is not about virtue signalling. To make what is not obligatory into an obligatory action is just as big a deal as permitting what is forbidden.

I will therefore write this in block capitals. NO SCHOLAR WILL EVER SAY THAT OVERPAYING ZAKAH IS AN OBLIGATION. If you were taught this it is one method. And it is a method they recommend for it's simplicity and erring on the side of caution. It does not mean there is any kind of consensus that people pay zakah on money that hasn't done a hawl in your pocket.

Now if you decide to overpay, that's up to you. If you want to add 50% sadaqah on top of the 2.5% zakah, all power to you. But God has decreed an obligation that nobody should ever exceed when instructing others.

 

[loxjox]

@iamjezreel if you do end up paying 100$ higher than "obligated", will Allah not give you the benefit of it?

can you please keep your response limited?

Writing an essay doesn't make it a fact. Lol.

 

[iamjezreel]

@loxjox Laugh little and cry a lot, if you are GodFearing you would never be laughing about these matters.

Obligating anything that is not an obligation is the same as permitting was is forbidden. This is a basic principle of islamic jurisprudence.

Instead of laughing have some humility and go read. I will give you whatever guidance I can as soon as time permits insha'Allah.

لا تفرض على الناس أن يزكوا في ما لم يحل عليه الحول واتق الله ولا تكن من المستهينين بهذه الأمور فما يفرضه الشارع لا ضحك فيه

 

[iamjezreel]

@loxjox Here is the briefest summary I've found on the matter my laughing brother. It mentions three methods:

• The original, a rolling hawl for each month
• The Hanafi, taking the final spot value after a hawl
• Another, taking the initial spot value before a hawl

I'll find you someone to explain the minimum value over the year too insha'Allah, but Islam is not just Hanafi methods.

 

[jeffp]

@iamjezreel Thank you.

Where can I read more about it? The second option makes sense (although I’m unsure about the ruling) since I only had 100,000 with me for one year.

 

[rostislav]

@jeffp You should pay zakah on the 110k

The one year ruling is there for the following situation. If someone becomes eligible for a little while but then drops below nisab they do not have to pay until they stay above nisab for a whole year.

Once you become eligible for zakah and stay above nisab for the full year, then you pay zakah on your current assets minus current liabilities.

 

[iamjezreel]

@rostislav Again, this is one method. I mention this very clearly because it seems like some brothers don't realise it is only one method. Not the only one method. And its intention by scholars was to make life easy, so you don't need to keep track of a rolling 12 months.

Another method, which is really the original one, is that zakah is due on money that has spent a year on your pocket.

The end value method never spent a year in your pocket. It's like paying it speculatively in advance. Which for many of us paying rent never materialises.

Because zakah is very specific, we should avoid overpaying just as we avoid underpaying. Pay extra in sadaqah, but give the exact calculation of zakah.

 

[rostislav]

@iamjezreel Dr Zakir Naik is excellent at comparative religion, however he is not a scholar.

Don't take religion from society, parents, tv or even reddit. Take it from the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet s.a.w.

Talk to a local scholar and get guidance from them.