Q. Could you please let me know which of these items are liable to zakah? I may point out that some of these items are registered in my name while others are in my wife’s name. May I ask whether zakah could be calculated on the basis of the Gregorian rather than the lunar year:

A rented-out residential apartment building; residential plots bought with the intention of constructing housing flats for letting or sale; four plots intended to be given to one’s children as gifts, where only half of the purchase price is paid and the remainder due for payment within a year.

M. A. Miah, Jeddah

A. Let me clear first the point of registration. A man and his wife have separate liabilities to zakah. Each is treated as an individual to whom Islamic duties apply in his or her own right. So each of them has to be an owner of something over and above the threshold of zakah in order to be liable to pay any zakah. That threshold is equivalent to the value of 85 grams of gold. The reader knows who is the owner of the building registered in his wife’s name. If she owns it, then she is the one to pay zakah for it. If he is the owner and he merely registered it in his wife’s name for convenience, then the liability is his. He is clearly liable to pay zakah, as he owns all these properties.

The other point is that of the Gregorian year. Zakah is calculated on the basis of the lunar year, which has been standard in the Muslim world for more than 13 centuries. Only when the colonial powers occupied our land and imposed their laws and habits we adopted the Gregorian calendar. It is not appropriate for zakah calculation. Therefore, when you have determined your zakah date, make sure that you know the date in the lunar year and pay your zakah at the same time every year.

The apartment building which is let out is liable to zakah. What is payable is the net income it generates. This is the rental after deducting any expenses incurred for the maintenance and administration of the building. Suppose the building is a very large one and you employ one or two people to manage it, then their salaries count as part of the expenses, provided that they work on this task full time. If they have other duties, then the portion of their salaries that is related to this building may be deducted from the rental. If you have property tax to pay, that is also exempt.

The plots of land bought for constructing houses are liable to zakah, because the whole project is an investment one. I realize that some people told the reader that as the plots now stand, they are not liable to zakah, but the basis of that opinion is faulty. These plots are bought for investment, and while no construction work is going on they are treated as a commercial venture. If the owner receives an offer which gives him a tidy profit, he will seriously consider it, and he may very well sell them to buy some other plots where he constructs buildings, or may buy other types of property. As such they are treated as commercial commodities, and they are liable to zakah. However, the value which should be considered in assessing the zakah liability here is the market value on the zakah date, not the purchase price.

The plots bought for the reader’s children are more problematic. While they are retained by the father, they belong to him, regardless of his intention, because he may change his mind at any time. As such they are liable to zakah.

However, if he makes the gift now, and makes each one of his children the owner of that plot, he is no longer responsible for their zakah. Each one of his children will have to consider how he or she treats the plot of land.

If they want to construct a house for their own living, then the plot is exempt from zakah. If his child will retain it as a form of investment, it is liable to zakah together with that child’s other property, provided that he or she is a zakah payer. What makes the child a zakah payer is owning more than the threshold of zakah.

The fact that only half the price of these last plots has been paid does not affect the question, because when the reader calculates his zakah liability, he will deduct what he owes anyway. This means that only the portion paid is included in the calculation.

Marriage and separation

Q.1. Is it true that when a husband and wife have been living separately for more than six months, their marriage becomes invalid and that they will have to go through a remarriage if they want to continue to live together? 

Q. 2. Should one recite the Qur’an aloud in night worship, or tahajjud? How many rakaahs is this prayer, and how is it performed?

I. Khalimbol, Riyadh

A.1. No, all this is wrong. A marriage is a bond made by God, and it can be dissolved only through the ways He has laid down. These do not include separation of the spouses. What the reader is confusing here is the fact that a man should not stay away from home for more than four months without his wife’s consent and the effect of such absence on his marital status. If he stays away for that duration and his wife objects to any longer absence, then she is entitled to apply for divorce on grounds of husband’s absence. There are other rulings concerning long absence, but the marriage is never automatically dissolved.

There must always be an application by the wife for nullification of the marriage when her husband is away for a prolonged period of time.

A. 2. Night worship, or tahjjud, may be offered with the Qur’an being recited aloud, if a worshipper is offering it alone. If he is in a congregation, then the Imam will read the Qur’an aloud, as it is the case in taraweeh.

In fact, taraweeh is of this type of prayer, but it is offered in Ramadan only. The form of tahjjud, or night worship is the same as taraweeh.

It is offered normally in pairs, two rakaahs at a time, and one may read a long passage of the Qur’an if one wishes to do so. If a group are praying together in congregation, then the Imam must observe the requirement of making his prayers short in order that no one in the congregation finds it hard.

Q. Many of our colleagues travel from Jeddah to their workplace at a distance of 85 kms or more. Some travel daily, while others travel weekly. Some are natives of Jeddah, while others are foreigners who have their accommodation at Jeddah, but their families are abroad. Who of these may have the concession of shortening their prayers?

T. I. Ahmad, Jeddah

A. I understand that the foreign workers involved come to work on one or two-year contracts. They are given their accommodation in Jeddah and they travel to their workplace. As such they are treated as residents in Jeddah. Where they come from does not matter, because when they pray in Jeddah, they have to pray as residents, completing their 4-rakaah prayers in four rakaahs each.

When they go to work, these people may avail themselves of the concession to shorten prayers which God has granted to travelers, even if they are traveling every day.

Those who travel every week should consider whether they count the workplace as their place of residence or they are resident in Jeddah.

 If they think of their travel to Jeddah every weekend as a recreational trip, or a privilege they receive from the company, then their place of residence is the same as their place of work, and they shorten their prayers when they travel to Jeddah. No one may shorten their prayers at both places, looking at themselves as residents of their home countries and travelers while they are fulfilling their employment contracts.

Substitute pilgrimage, etc.

Q.1. My father died a few years ago. Due to some unavoidable circumstances I could not offer the pilgrimage on his behalf until now. Is it possible to do so now?

Q.2. Is it obligatory to offer Dhuhr prayer after the Friday prayer, as many people in the mosque do?

S. M. Kasim, Dammam

A.1. Yes, it is perfectly possible to offer the pilgrimage on behalf of your deceased father several years after his death. There is no time limit as to when a substitute pilgrimage may be offered on behalf of a departed parent. However, the sooner one does it, the better, because you never know, should you leave till next year, whether you will be able to perform it on his behalf or not.

 Therefore, if your father has asked you to perform the pilgrimage on his behalf or you are doing it voluntarily as an act of dutifulness, you should perform it as soon as you can. The only condition is that you should have performed your own pilgrimage first.

If you have not and you go to pilgrimage intending it for your father, it will be counted as your own obligatory pilgrimage. You may do the one on behalf of your father the following year.

A.2. The followers of the Shafie school of law offer Dhuhr prayer after Friday prayer in any city or town where there is more than one mosque. However, the weightier opinion is that Dhuhr prayer is not required on Friday except for those who miss Friday prayer.

I have answered your other question a few months ago. Of course the action of the mosque committee was wrong, and it must have caused you and members of your family much distress. However, it is better to forgive and forget. In this way, both you and your father will receive God’s reward for your patience, God willing.