1 – GIVING ZAKÂT
It was during the month of Ramadân in the second year of the Hegira when it became fard to give 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 which 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, thievery, 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 the properties to them. If they are not known one may distribute all of the (harâm) possessions to the poor as alms though one has to compensate for the properties if the owners or their heirs appear later. If the possesions will not last but will deteriorate until one finds their owners, it is permissible to 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 page 27(print version). 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 give it. Ibni Âbidîn says in the subject of Bey’ wa shirâ (buying and selling), “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 one do not become one’s property before one takes possession of them. The booties taken away from the enemy rightfully belong to the soldiers when they are taken to 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, is 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 give zakât when he or she has the conditions. To give 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, it becomes zakât. If he eats with the poor orphan who has not reached the age of discretion, or if he hands the food to the poor and discreet orphan, he has given 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 things with his own zakât and give them to him. It is written in Bezzâziyya that the alimony given to one’s poor relatives by a judge’s decision is comparable to this. Yet the zakât intended (to be given) to other poor people must be paid (only from the property of zakât concerned) without any substitution. Imâm Nasafî (rahmatullâhi ’aleyh) wrote in Zahîra, “It is written in Ziyâdât that a rich person will not have given zakât by buying food and giving it to the poor.” It is written inBezzâziyya and in Fatâwa-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 inÎdâh, “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 guardian.”
In all the 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 Muntaqa (rahmatullâhi ’aleyh) declares, “When over twelve carats, the zakât of gold and silver is to be given, 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 were necessities like a sword [or a gold tooth].” Hence, it is harâm for men to wear gold rings. Please see the second last page of the forty-first chapter of the second part of the Turkish original version.
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 ’aleyh) stated, “The property should be 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 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 gives 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 give its zakât.” If he sows the wheat which he has bought for trade [in order to sell] in his field, 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 samans (badals), these badals (prices, values) become commercial property. For trade is a job. It does not happen only with an intention. It is necessary to begin it as well. But giving up trade happens only with an intention. In fact, giving up 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[2] . 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 give the ’Ushr[3] , and has been communicated by a hadîth 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 give either the ’Ushr or the kharâj of land. A person who is in debt to people does not deduct the amount of his debt, but gives 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 give 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 give 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-i-Abû Yûsuf. It is alms according to Imâm-i-Muhammad ‘rahmat-ullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’, and one has not given 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 it so. His inheritors may pay it from their own property. (In this case the isqât 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 giving 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 give 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 has to intend for zakât. However, for Hajj the deputy also has to intend. If the rich person says that it is alms or that it is kaffârat or that it is a present while giving 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 given. The deputy has given alms. The deputy will pay for the zakâts. While explaining this on the eleventh page, Ibni Âbidîn stated, “He having mixed zakâts 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 poor to mix the zakâts he received without letting them know and then to give 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 give them after mixing them without permission. If a rich person says to another person, “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 ’aleyh), this person will ask for his money from the rich person later. Imâm-i-Muhammad (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh) 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 does not (have to) pay it. 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 getting possession of his (the poor person’s) zakât, means the poor person’s possessing his own zakât. In that case the poor person owns that property. The zakât is not given for animals and commercial goods belonging to a Waqf (pious foundation).
THE ZAKÂT OF
GOLD, SILVER, AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Living or non-living, every kind of property, such as salts obtained from earth or from the sea, oxides, petroleum and the like, when they are bought for trade, that is, for selling, become commercial property. Gold and silver are always commercial property for whatever purpose they are bought.
Debts that are results of borrowing and floating debts to other people that are due to be paid before the day on which it is fard to give zakât are not included into the calculation of nisâb. In other words, first these debts are subtracted from the total of what one has of gold and silver and commercial property and one’s dues. Then, if the remainder is the amount of nisâb, one year later it will become fard to give zakât for them. Debts that are gone into after zakât has become fard are not excusable; their zakât is to be given. The unpaid zakâts of past years are counted as debts to other people. That is, they are not included into the new nisâb. Ibni Âbidîn gives a record of the books stating that those debts that are muajjal, that is, floating debts that are to be paid back at a definite time in the future after the zakât becomes fard, such as the mahr[4] that has been made muajjal till the time of divorce[5] , are to be included into the nisâb, but it is written in Durrulmukhtâr, in Hindiyya, in Durr-ul-muntaqâ, in Dâmâd, and in Jawharathat it is acceptable not to include into the nisâb these or the debts that are to be repaid by instalments at definite times in future. The zakât of the money kept for hajj, nazr or kaffârat is to be given. For they are not debts owed to other people. If a person who has the nisâb amount of gold and silver borrows a few sacks of barley towards the end of the year and still holds the barley at the end of the year, he does not have to give zakât. For debts should precedently be repaid from the property of zakât. They cannot be thought of as being paid from the property which is not included in the calculation of zakât.
As for dues; there are three kinds of dues according to Imâm-i-a’zam:
1 - Dayn-i-qawî is the Saman that has been lent or which is to be received in return for the selling of the property of zakât. It is included into the calculation of nisâb. When one year has passed over the nisâb of the dues or of the summing up of the dues with the money one already has, it is wâjib to give immediately one-fortieth of each amount (of them) that one has obtained. One gives the two years’ zakât of what one receives two years later and three years’ zakât of the amount that one receives three years later. For example, if a person who is owed three hundred pounds receives two hundred pounds three years later, he gives fifteen pounds’ value of zakât for three years, it being five pounds for each year. It is not necessary for him to give zakât before he receives the money. If a tenant repairs a house in return for the rental with the permission of the landlord, he will have lent the expenditure to the landlord, (Ibni Âbidîn).
2 - Dayn-i-mutawassit is the dues that are to be received for the selling of those animals of zakât which are not commercial property and of the things of necessity such as slaves, houses, food and drink, and for the rentals of houses. They are included into the calculation of nisâb. One year after one’s property reaches the amount of nisâb one immediately gives one-fortieth for each year of what one has received.
3 - Dayn-i-daîf is the inherited property or mahr. It is included in the calculation of nisâb. One year after one has reached the nisâb amount of it one gives zakât of that year only. If one also has the nisâb amount of property, one adds to it what one has received of the dues and also gives the zakât of the amount received when the year of the nisâb one already has is over. One does not wait for another year to give its zakât. Also, if one receives those kinds of dues that are qawî and mutawassit before one year has passed, one adds them to what one already has and gives their zakâts at the same time. According to the two imâms, (that is, Imâm-i-Abû Yûsuf and Imâm-i-Muhammad) ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihimâ’, if any dues are the amount of nisâb their zakât is to be given after one year has passed, even if the amount received is less than the nisâb.
Property that is lost, which has fallen into the sea, which has been usurped, or the place where it was buried has been forgotten, and dues that are denied are not included in the calculation of nisâb, and if they are recovered the zakâts of previous years are not given. Dues for which there are written proofs or two witnesses for each or which are confessed by the debtors are included in the nisâb even if they are kept by an insolvent or poor person. When one receives them one gives their zakâts for the past years as well.
VITAL NEEDS - Are things that protect one from death. The first of them is subsistence. There are three kinds of subsistence. Food, clothing, and housing. Food includes things needed in the kitchen as well. And housing includes things needed in the house. One’s beast of transportation or a car, weapons, servants, tools of art and necessary books are counted as things of necessity as well.
Going on hajj also requires having money and property more than these things of necessity. Subsistence is the subsistence for one and for those who it is wâjib for one to support. Of these things the ones that are more than one needs and all books other than religious and professional ones are counted as the money for hajj and are included in the nisâb of Qurbân and Fitra. But they are not included in the nisâb of zakât unless they are intended for trade. To go on hajj, if one has a house other than the one one lives in, one sells it. But one does not sell the spare rooms of one house. It is not necessary to sell the house one lives in and then rent another house. It is permissible to buy things of necessity before the time of hajj comes. After hajj has become fard, it is not permissible to spend the money of hajj to buy them. One should go on hajj first. While explaining the hajj, Ibni Abidîn says, “One’s food or money for one year is counted as subsistence. One sells what is more than that and goes on hajj. A tradesman’s, a craftsman’s, an artisan’s or a farmer’s capital customary in his region is of the things of necessity when the hajj is concerned. One’s subsistence and that of those who it is wâjib for one to support are calculated in accordance with the customs of one’s city and with one’s friends. It is necessary to eat good food and to wear good, clean and beautiful clothes. But one should not be a spendthrift. Human rights are to be paid before Allah’s rights. One should not borrow money in order to go on hajj, unless one is sure to repay it.”
Money which one has reserved for buying things of necessity or for meeting the expenses of one’s funeral is included in the calculation of nisâb. If a person has only that money and if it is still equal to the amount of nisâb one year after it has reached the amount of nisâb, he gives zakât of what remains in his possession of that money. For in zakât, fitra and qurbân it is not a condition to have the things of necessity. What one has of these things are not included in the calculation of nisâb.
If gold or silver or commercial property remains in one’s possession for one hijrî (Arabic) year (354 days) from the day its weight or value has reached the amount of nisâb, it is fard for one to reserve with the intention of zakât one-fortieth of what has remained and give it to poor Muslims. It is wâjib to give it as soon as possible. It is makrûh to delay it without any good excuse (’udhr) to do so. It is not necessary to intend or to say that it is zakât while giving it. This is so in all of the four Madhâhib.
The nisâb of gold is twenty mithqals. A mithqal is a unit of weight. Weight, length, volume, time, and value (money) measures are designated as shar’î and ’urfî units. Shar’î units were used during the era of our Prophet Muhammad (sallallâhu alaihi wa sallam) and are referred to in hadîth-i sherifs. The four Madhhabs’ imâms reported the definitions of the values of these units in different ways. ’Urfî units denote customary usage or units of measure adopted by the government. The four Madhhab imâms have described mithqal equivalents differently. For example, the mithqal equivalents in Hanafî and Shâfi’î Madhhabs differ. Similarly there are also various ’urfî mithqals. In Hanafî Madhhab, one mithqal is twenty qirâts (carats). One qirât-i-shar’î equals five peeled cut-ends of dry barley seeds. During my experiments [made on a very accurate balance in a pharmacy] I observed that 5 seeds of barley weigh twenty-four centigrams (gr. 0.24). Hence, one shar’î mithqal is a hundred seeds of barley and, as it is written in (Zahîra), one mithqal is seventy-two seeds of barley according to Mâlikî Madhhab. Hence one mithqal is three and a half [3.456] grams in Mâlikî and four point 80 [4.80] grams in Hanafî. So, the nisâb of gold is 96 grams. The last adopted measure of ’urfî mithqal, during the time of the Ottoman Empire, was 24 qirâts and one qirât was 20 centigrams (gr. 0.20). Therefore, an ’urfî mithqal equals 4.80 grams. In this case, shar’î mithqals and ’urfî mithqals are identical. Since the Ottoman and Republican gold coins both weigh one and a half mithqals and one gold coin weighs 7.20 grams, the amount of nisâb is 20 ÷ 1.5 or 13.3 gold coins. 13.3 gold coins weighs 96 grams. In other words, it is fard to give zakât for one who owns thirteen and one third (13.3) gold coins or its paper money equivalent. When one says, “A mithqal equals 20 qirâts” one must specify shar’î mithqal. It is necessary to multiply 20 by the 0.24 gram weight of the shar’î qirât to find out how many grams a mithqal weighs. If the calculation had used the weight of the ’urfî qirât (0.20 gr.) the product of 4 grams would not be the correct weight of a shar’î mithqal or an ’urfî mithqal. It is incorrect to say the nisâb of gold will equal 4x20=80 grams by using the wrong qirât designation. The nisâb of silver is two hundred dirham-i-shar’î. One dirham-i-shar’î is fourteen qirât-i-shar’î, which is equal to seventy seeds of barley. According to Mâlikî Madhhab it is equal to fifty-five seeds of barley, or [2.64] grams. The weight of ten dirhams is equal to the weight of seven mithqals in Hanafî Madhhab. When three-tenths is subtracted from one mithqal the remainder is one dirham. When three-sevenths is added to one dirham the total is one mithqal. One dirham-i-shar’î is three grams and three hundred and sixty miligrams (3.360 gr.) [0.24x14=3.36]. Therefore, in Hanafî Madhhab the nisâb of silver is 2800 qirât or 672 grams. One majidiyya [An Ottoman silver coin] is five mithqals, that is, one hundred qirât-i-shar’î, or twenty-four grams. So, zakât is fard for a person who has twenty-eight majidiyyas. Since twenty mithqals of gold and two hundred dirhams of silver indicate one common amount of nisâb, their values must be equal. Accordingly, in the Sharî’a, one mithqal of gold has the value of ten dirhams of silver, which has the weight of seven mithqals of silver. Then one gram of gold has the value of seven grams of silver. In the Sharî’a, the value of gold used for money is seven times the same weight of silver money. Today, silver is not used as money. The value of silver is very low. For this reason, the value of silver cannot be taken as a basis in calculating the nisâb of paper money or commercial property today. Ibnî Âbidîn (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh), says in the section about zakât of property, “The qirât-i-’urfî is four grains of barley. The dirham-i-shar’î is equal to seventy grains of barley. One dirham-i-’urfî has the weight of sixteen qirâts, that is, sixty-four grains of barley; so the dirham-i-’urfî is smaller.” [Then, this dirham-i-’urfî, which was formerly used, is approximately three grams. The one qirât which was used during the latest times of the Ottomans was the weight of four seeds of wheat. It was twenty centigrams, and the dirham was 3.20 grams]. It is written in the book Al muqaddemat-ul Hadramiyya, “In the Madhhab of Shâfi’î, one mithqal weighs 24 qirâts. So one dirham-i-shar’î is 16.8 grams.” It is said in the books Misbâh-un-nejât, andAnwâr, “In the Madhhab of Shâfi’î, one mithqal equals 72 seeds of barley. One mithqal exceeds one dirham by three-sevenths of one dirham. The value of a commodity or commercial property is computed through its saman, that is, its purchase price.” Since one mithqal is 24 qirâts, and this equals 72 seeds of barley, then in Shâfi’î Madhhab one qirât weighs three seeds of barley or 14.4 centigrams. Therefore, if one mithqal equals 3.45 grams, hence twenty mithqals equals 69 grams, which is approximately nine and a half gold coins. Because one dirham is three-tenths a mithqal less than a mithqal in the madhâhib of Shâfi’î and Hanbalî, one dirham is 16.8 qirâts, that is, two grams and fourty-two centigrams (2.42 gr.) in the madhâhib of Shâfi’î and Hanbalî. So the nisâb of silver is four hundred and eighty-four (484) grams. It is written in Jawâhir-uz-zakiyya that in Mâlikî Madhhab one mithqal is 72 grains of barley and one dirham is 55 grains of barley. In Shâfi’î Madhhab zakât of one kind of property cannot be given from another kind of property. For example, silver cannot be given for gold; or barley for wheat. It is written inKimyâ-yi-se’âdat and also in Fatâwâ-i-fiqhiyya by Ibni Hajar-i-Mekkî (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh) that it is permissible for the Shâfi’îs to follow Hanafî Madhhab and give in cash for property and give to one or more classes of people they choose instead of giving to all the seven classes.
It is written on the thirtieth page of the second volume of Durr-ul-mukhtâr, “The dirham-i-shar’î is used when the nisâb of zakât is to be calculated in silver. Also there have been those (savants) who have said that the ’urfî dirham in use in each city can be used for zakât.” In explaining these lines, Ibni Âbidîn writes, “Those savants who say that the dirham used in every city can be used say: ‘Yet the weight of the dirhams used should not be less than the lightest one of the three kinds of dirham used during the time of Rasûlullah ‘sall Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. The lightest dirham weighed half a mithqal, i.e. ten qirâts. If not so, it must be calculated with the dirham-i-shar’î, which weighs fourteen qirats. The majority of Hanafî savants advise this dirham. This dirham is meant in the books of both the old ones and the new ones.” As seen, zakât cannot be calculated with dirhams that were used in a country in old times and which have been superseded later or with the new ones that weigh less than the dirham-i-shar’î. For this reason, it is not permissible to calculate the zakât of silver with the dirhams of Istanbul or Egypt now. It is necessary to calculate it with the dirham-i-shar’î, which weighs three grams and thirty-six centigrams (3.36 gr.).
According to the majority of the ’Ulamâ, zakât of gold and silver is given, regardless of the form or shape they are in and the purpose they are used for. In the accepted unanimity (by the ’Ulamâ) in Shafi’î Madhhab and in Hanbalî Madhhab, zakât of gold and silver which women use for ornament is not given.
Because gold and silver are soft when they are pure, they cannot be used as money or as an ornament. They are used in alloys mixed with metals such as copper. Gold and silver alloys of more than fifty per cent gold and silver, that is, with more than twelve carats, are looked on as pure. Their degrees of purity is not taken into consideration. But those alloys half or less of which is gold or silver are like commercial property. [It is written in a fatwâ of Ebussu’ûd Efendi (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh) that in the time of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh) the nisâb of silver was 840 aqchas, which means that one aqcha was a silver coin of 0.24 dirhams, i.e., eighty centigrams (0.8 gr.)]. Abdurrahman Şeref Bey says in his book, Tarih-i Devlet-i Osmaniyye (History of the Ottoman Empire) printed in 1309 [1892 A.D.], “During the era of Süleyman the Magnificent, three aqchas were being minted out of one silver dirham.