Q.1. My wife was pregnant when Ramadan approached. She was poorly most of the time, and a doctor advised her not to fast as fasting was not good for her health. How and when does she compensate for her not-fasting?
Q.2. I am the only wage earner in my family and I support my parents and other members of the family, in addition to my wife and children. This means that only very little is left of my salary at the end of any month. I have only a small amount of savings and the jewelry which my wife wears. What is my zakah liability?
Z.A. Zinde, Al-Kharj
A.1. Pregnancy and breast-feeding may represent considerable strain for a woman. Fasting also may affect some people considerably, particularly those who are weak or having to cope with much strain. Hence, Islam allows women who are pregnant or breast-feeding not to fast in Ramadan. Should a reliable doctor advise a pregnant woman not to fast, then she should surely act on his advice in order not to bear considerable strain which may affect her health or the health of her baby.
There are two types of compensation for not fasting as a result of a valid exemption. These are: 1) fasting at a later date, one day for each day which a person does not fast in Ramadan; and 2) feeding a poor person two meals for each day. The first type is the one to be followed in all cases where it is possible, such as a person who travels in Ramadan and avails himself of the concession for travelers.
He fasts after the month is over when he is no longer a traveler. The other type is for a person who is chronically ill, or an old person who finds fasting too much of a strain. A pregnant or breast-feeding lady may make compensation in this way, particularly if her general health is not very sound. She may also do that if she does not fast one year for pregnancy and the following year for breast-feeding, and then again for pregnancy, etc. That makes her miss several months of fasting. Compensation by fasting may become a heavy burden for her, particularly if she ends up having to fast for several months. She may compensate by feeding a poor person, or several poor persons, two meals per person for each day. The meals should be of the average type she eats at home.
A. 2. You have to differentiate between your zakah liability and that of your wife. You speak of your wife’s jewelry as if it was your own. Who owns it? If it is hers, then she is responsible for its zakah, if it is liable to zakah. If all her jewelry was bought by you, and you gave it to her as a gift, she still owns it. However, if you told her at the time that it is yours but she may wear it, then it is yours. In this case, it is liable to zakah. If it is hers and she holds it for her personal use, then it is not liable to zakah, unless she considers it a form of saving. In this latter case, i.e. jewelry kept as savings, it is zakahable.
Your savings in the bank are too small to be liable to zakah. These savings are below the threshold of zakah, which is equivalent to the value of 85 grams of gold. Unless you own that amount above what you need for your family’s expenses, then you are not liable to pay any zakah. This means that if the jewelry your wife uses is yours, then you should pay zakah for both the jewelry and savings because in this case, you have more than the threshold of zakah.
Arab News Islam 6 January 2003
