Q. You have mentioned that zakah is payable every year, but scholars in India say that this is not true. Zakah means purification, and once money is purified with the payment of its zakah, then no more zakah need to be paid for it. Please explain.
S.F. Mohamed, Riyadh
A. To say that zakah is payable once only, and that no money is to be zakahtable twice, is a claim that needs to be proven by either a Qur’anic verse or an authentic Hadith. There is definitely no Qur’anic verse to suggest this, and to my knowledge, there is no Hadith to support such a claim. Zakah is an annual duty, payable on the same date every year, and its calculation is well known. Besides, this is the normal practice in all Muslim communities, right from the time of the Prophet up to this day, and it will continue to be the practice for the rest of time. It is inconceivable that all this practical evidence should be mistaken, and those people you are referring to in India are correct. Besides, I cannot imagine that anyone making such a claim could have done any serious study of Islamic fiqh, let alone be classified as a scholar.
Zakah is paid annually, on every property one owns other than what he needs for his own and his family’s living. It is levied on capital, profits and income, provided that one owns more than the threshold of zakah, which is equivalent to 85 grams of gold. When a person, male or female, owns this amount, he becomes a zakah payer. He should make a note of the date, and then the following year, and every subsequent year, on the same date, he should calculate what he owns. If it is still over the threshold of zakah, he must pay zakah at the rate of 2.5 percent, except for money which incurs a higher duty. This holds true even if at sometime during the year he dropped to below the threshold of zakah before recovering and going over the threshold once again before the zakah date.
It should be remembered that zakah is an act of worship which does not only purify one’s money, but also ensures the eradication of poverty in the Muslim community. Therefore, it must be paid every year. Besides, it is an act of showing our gratitude to God for giving us more than what we need for our living.
As for your other question, I am not in a position to give you a detailed answer, but I can assure you of the accuracy of what I said in the answer to which you refer.
Q. Is it permissible to pay zakah to Syeds?
S.E. Ali, (Place not mentioned)
A. The title Syed, or to use the more accurate spelling Sayyid, is attached to a person who is a direct descendent of the Prophet, through his daughter Fatimah. The original ruling is that these may not take zakah money, because there is a more suitable fund to help them, which is a one-fifth share of what an Islamic state may win from unbelievers in war, and the whole of what it may win without war. Such funds are shared by the Prophet’s descendants together with the poor, the needy, orphans and travelers who might find themselves stranded, unable to go back home.
However, in situations like the present time when the Muslim community is weak, unable to defend much of its land, there is nothing that comes to it under this heading. Scholars have addressed this situation and considered whether descendants of the Prophet who are poor may be helped with zakah funds. The weightier opinion is that they may be so helped, and that they may benefit by zakah money, because it is not right to leave them in poverty when the state does not have the means to help them.
Q. I have been putting aside 2.5 percent of my salary as zakah and giving it to the poor. Should I pay zakah again at the end of the year?
M.I. Ali, (Place not mentioned)
A. It is perfectly appropriate to pay zakah in advance. If you pay to the poor an amount equal to, or in excess of, your annual zakah liability as you receive your salary, intending such payments as your zakah for that year, all you need to do at the end of the year is to make sure that what you have paid is equal to, or in excess of, your entire liability. On your zakah date, you should calculate your zakah liability and adjust it against what you have already paid. If your liability is greater than what you have paid, then you pay out what remains outstanding. If you paid more than you need to, then the excess is counted as voluntary sadaqah, or charity.
Having said that, I should point out to you that if your income is all that you have, then you are paying more than you need to. Zakah is payable on all money you have that is liable to grow. Thus, it is payable on savings, investments, capital, profits and other money. It is not merely the salary you have that may be zakahtable. If you do not have much of these other types, then what you have been doing is more than enough. If you have much, then you may need to add to what you pay monthly.
