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Session Details
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| Guest Name |
Dr. Monzer Kahf
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| Profession |
Scholar in Islamic Economics & Financial Expert
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| Subject |
Zakatul-Fitr & Ramadan Financial Issues
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| Date |
Monday,Oct 1 ,2007
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Time |
Makkah
From...
17:00...To...
19:30
GMT
From... 14:00...To...16:30
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| Name |
Host
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| Answer |
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Brothers and sisters, the session has already started. You can submit your questions. Please, make your questions short and clear so as to help us answer all your questions.
Yours,
Islam Online Fatwa Editing Desk.
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| Name |
Mohamed Irfan
- Sri Lanka
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| Profession |
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| Question |
Assalamu Allikum
Dear Brother.
I am giving Zakath on my wife's Gold jewelry. I understand that it is a must and I am ready for it. But my doubt is that I have seen debate saying that if I give Zakah for those jewelry this year I don’t need to give for next year for the same jewelry. But I have given Zakah only to the new ones which come in this year. Is this correct? Or do I have to continue giving Zakah yearly to the same jewelry?
Jazakallah.
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| Answer |
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Br. Irfan
Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatu Allahi wa Barakatuh
Zakah on jewelry and other Zakatable items of wealth is a yearly obligation, it must be given year after year as long as the amount you (or your wife) owns is equal to Nisab or more. There is no foundation whatsoever to the claim that it is only once in lifetime and that you only give for newly obtained jewelries. In fact, all wealth items that are subject to zakah have the same rule, zakah on them is an obligation that is repeated upon the passage of a lunar year (i.e., 354 days) after either having nisab for the first time or after the due date of last year.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
S. A.
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| Profession |
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| Question |
What is the rate of Zakatul-Fitr this year in the USA?
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| Answer |
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Br. S. A.
It is the value of a little less than five pounds of uncooked raw wheat, that is less than five US$. So I take the five Dollars as the required rate per person in the family. We should keep in mind that while giving less than the required rate makes it unfulfilling the obligation, giving more than the required amount is always encouraged and the Prophet, peace be on him, gave two big and excellent ramps for sacrifice while one smaller was the minimum required.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Muslima
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| Question |
Can I pay the fidya for not fasting in cash? And how much?
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| Answer |
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Sister, the Fidya for not-fasting is two average meals for a normal person; I would say it is about US$ 15-18 for two subways' meals, this is for each day you are required to pay Fidya for. Yes it can be given in money, and does not have to be in kind, it is rather difficult to give it in kind in our days especially in America.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Farhan
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| Question |
Dear sheikh, if someone is saving up to pay back a loan, is this money zakatable?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Br. Farhan, if the loan is due to be paid out of the existing money, then this amount (that is engaged by the loan payment) is excludable from the calculation of Zakah, i.e., not subject to Zakah and does not count in determining whether you have Nisab or not. Paying a debt is one of the basic needs of any Muslim and any amount that is designated for the debt payment is not subject to Zakah.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Musthaq
- India
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| Profession |
Engineer
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| Question |
My sister's son died after days of marriage in an accident. He has wife, 3 brothers, mother and father. What will be the inheritance among them? Thanks.
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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Br. Mushtaq, it is so simple, you could have consulted the Schedule of Mawarith that is on my website www.kahf.net.
After paying debts, expenses and Wassiyyah, if any, the remainder will be divided as follows:
The wife takes one fourth, and one sixth out of the 3/4th (= 3/24 of the total) should be given to his mother and 5/6 out of the 3/4th (15/24) is to be given to his father. In other words, the wife takes 2/8, mother 1/8 and father 5/8, nothing to brothers and sisters
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Rami
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If someone usually pays zakah on the first of Rajab each year, but he wants to change the hawl to make it end/start in the month of Ramadan, in order to get the blessings of Ramadan, how would he do that? If he pays before date, won't it become an pre-hawl payment every year? If he delays the zakah from Rajab till Ramadan and he pays it in Ramadan, will it be considered as "postponement or delaying the zakah on purpose? Will it be punished?
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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Br. Rami, it is not delay or pre-payment, rather just adjust your Hawl by paying the prorated amount that is due for a partial year between your old due date and the new one you want to select. Suppose it is between Rajab 10 and Ramadan 25, then you pay on Ramadan 25 the amount for one Hawl, suppose it is L, and add to it the following: L x 75/354, that is the zakah for 75 days. Of course in Rajab you make your intention to adjust your Hawl to Ramadan. This matter and the matter of using a solar calendar instead of a lunar one have been discussed by scholars and there are resolutions about them, as explained above, by the International shari'ah Board of Zakah.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Mohamed Irfan
- Sri Lanka
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| Profession |
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| Question |
Dear Scholar
I am paying Zakath for the amount of my wife’s gold jewelry this year, and if we maintain the same amount without adding any more. Do I still have to pay Zakath for this in next year?
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| Answer |
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear Br. Irfan
Yes of course, Zakah is a yearly worship that must be done every year as long as you own this jewelry and it is equal or more than the amount of Nisab. You are still rich by owning them, aren't you?
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Saeed Khan
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| Question |
How much the nisab for zakatul mal this year. With the decline in the US dollar, is the nisab still a 1000, or should we check for the price of Gold and figure out how much 85 grams (or 595 grams of silver) cost and then pay the zakah?
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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
The lower price of the Dollar did not yet make a visible substantial change on prices of goods and services, I would say the one thousand is still reasonable and I am definite Allah wouldn't ask us to follow the minute-wise changes in gold price on the internet! The Nisab should be stable for the whole year at least and may be for several years. I wouldn't argue with any one who would suggest to make it now higher, like about US$ 1400 or 1500 because of the current prices of gold. But to me still the one thousand is a beautiful number! I don't suggest the price of silver now because it does not really represent any level of richness.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Manal Fahmy
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| Profession |
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| Question |
Can zakatul fitr be paid for other than the poor and the needy? Secondly: do you consider the low-income families in North American as compatible to the definition of Faqeer and miskeen in Islamic Shari'ah? I.e., if a family can live, eat and drink but with very limited resources, will it be eligible for zakah?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
1) The principle is that Zakat al Fitr can be given to any and all the 8 categories to whom zakah of al Mal is given as mentioned in Verse 9:60. There is a view (the Malikites and Ibn Taymiyyah from the Hanbalites, that it is only to the poor and needy.) In practice, in our time of famine and hunger in many parts of the Muslim world, I would say that both Zakah al fitr and Zakah of al Mal should be given, as much as possible, to the poor and needy, especially those who are under poverty and foreign military occupation.
2) I wouldn't consider such a family, as you described, a deserving of zakah of al Fitr or of al Mal. But I am fully aware that there are Muslim families who deserve it in America on the basis of poverty. There are families who have trouble with immigrations and because of that have troubles with working and earning and with getting a welfare support from the government too. Many of these may deserve under the title of poverty here in America. We still must not deny the priority of people who are literally dying out of hunger or lack of medicine in many Muslim countries and those who are deprived of their own resources by foreign military occupation.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Hassan
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| Question |
On the issue of paying Zakah for ornaments, evidence from some of the Sahih's are cited. Particularly ones where the Prophet (SAW) asked Asma r.a to offer Zakah on her bangles and Aisah r.a to offer Zakah on a ring? Is there evidence of that magnitude which establishes that one need not pay Zakah on jewelry designated for personal use? How are these hadiths to be explained? Moreover, many people question the "personal use" definition and ask what is the limit i.e., how often should a piece of jewelry be used?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
The reconciliation between these Ahadith and other Ahadith that do not require Zakah on women jewelry is based on the size or the nature of use, as a store of value or as a personal use. We need to remember that the exemption comes in three schools of Fiqh.
I tend to accept the reconciliation suggest by Shaikh Ysuf al Qaradawi: that two conditions should be fulfilled for the exemption 1) it is actually used and 1) it is not beyond the limit of her peers. This reconciliation accommodates all the ahadith in this regards.
Personal use does not mean daily. It means use for what is it for, items that are used in weddings and large receptions are certainly different from items that are used to go work, so we take with that relativity and leave it to the person herself to decide while she must keep in mind that the Critique Watcher is very Knowledgeable.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Editor
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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Brothers and sisters, we are so sorry for not answering all your questions because the time is over. We apologize for any inconvenience. Do keep in touch. Join us in coming sessions.
Yours,
Islam Online Fatwa Editing Desk.
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| All Fatwas published on this website (Islamonline.net) represent the juristic views and opinions of eminent scholars and Muftis. They do not necessarily form a juristic approach upheld by this website. Click here to read Full Disclaimer. |
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