Q. I bought a plot of land and started constructing a building on it, intended for rental. I paid out zakah on the value of the land, but not on the money I spent on constructing the building. Is this the proper action?
You mentioned recently that zakah on rent received from buildings could be at the different rates of 2.5, 5 or 10 percent. There is wide difference between these rates. Please explain. You also mentioned that a property held for several years is liable to zakah when it is sold, once only, even when it is held for several years. This does not seem to be fair, because a person who spends a million riyals to buy a piece of land, and sells it after ten years at a million and a half is thus required to pay 37,500 riyals. Had he the money in other forms he would have paid 250,000 or more. Please clarify.
Iqbal Sanai
A. The important point to remember is that zakah is normally liable on money and belonging that are liable to growth. When you bought the plot of land and started to construct a building, you are making the whole project liable to growth, but the land and the expenditure are not growing. They are providing the means for income and growth. Thus, neither the land itself nor the money spent on the building are liable to zakah. When you start to let out the building and receive rent, you pay zakah on what you receive.
The different rates I mentioned are merely the views expressed by scholars. This is what I said then: “Buildings that are let out are also liable to zakah, but only on the rent received. Scholars have different views with regard to the rate of zakah on rented building. Some treat it as other money, requiring payment of zakah at the rate of 2.5 percent of the gross amount of rent; others say the rate is 5 percent, comparing it to the rate on the produce of agricultural land irrigated with machines; and a third view makes the rate 10 percent of the rent received after deducting any expenses incurred in the renting process. Again the comparison here is with agricultural land irrigated by rain. In all these cases, zakah is payable on receipt of the rent, whether on weekly, monthly or yearly basis. One does not wait until a year has lapsed, or until one’s zakah date to pay zakah on rent.”
The comparison is clear. Agricultural land irrigated with rain water only, i.e. requiring no expense for the purpose, pays 10 percent of its produce in zakah. By comparison a house given for rent generates income that requires no trouble or expense by the owner. Hence, some scholars feel that the rate of zakah is 10 percent on net rent. Those who opt for a rate of 5 percent compare the building to a land irrigated with machines, incurring expense for the purpose.As for the last point, we need to remember two points. The first is that zakah is an act of worship. As such, a person does not try to avoid it, because he would be like one who tries to get out of the obligation of offering prayer or fasting in Ramadan. If he wants to offer his worship, then he must know what he needs to pay out and fulfill his obligation. The second point is that God knows our intentions. When one is trying to avoid payment of zakah he will have to answer to God for that. He will be in a difficult position indeed if this is his purpose.
On the practical side, you realize that a person who has one million riyals can invest his money in a wide variety of ways, bringing in a good rate of returns. To put the money in a plot of land keeping it for ten years to get an increase in value of no more than 50 percent, or 5 percent a year, has no proper sense of business. He can easily get much better returns while having access to his capital instead of leaving it in the form of a piece of land that may increase or decrease in value. Besides, if the land is intended for sale at a higher price, it becomes a commercial commodity, liable to zakah on a yearly basis, according to its value. It becomes liable to zakah only at the time of sale when it is comparable to goods that are left unsold in order to avoid a big loss.
Smoking and Ablution
Q.1. Does smoking invalidate ablution?
Q.2. A friend of mine sends most of his savings to support his family at home, retaining a small portion of it for his own savings. How should he pay his zakah?
Q.3. There seem to be different methods of burying the dead, as we notice such differences between countries like India and Saudi Arabia. Which is the method that is correct from the Islamic point of view?
S. Kaleem
A.1. Smoking is forbidden in Islam. There is no doubt about that. This is due to the fact that it is very harmful to the smoker and those who are in close proximity to him. It causes many fatal and highly serious diseases. As such it could only have one verdict from the Islamic point of view, which is a verdict of absolute prohibition.
While this means that a Muslim should never smoke tobacco, it does not affect ablution.
A.2. With the figures you have mentioned, I doubt whether your friend has any zakah to pay. However, what he sends to his family is not liable to zakah because it is used for his family’s living. What he saves for himself is liable to zakah only when he owns the threshold of zakah, which is the equivalent of 85 grams of gold. When he has held that threshold of zakah for one year, he becomes a zakah payer. He calculates what he has every year. If it is above the threshold of zakah, he pays out 2.5% of it in zakah.
A.3. I really do not know what you are referring to when you speak of a method of burial. Is it preparing the body of the deceased, or the janazah prayer? As such, I am sorry for being unable to answer your question.
As for your other questions, people are afraid of death because they do not know what lies ahead of them when they die. Moreover, most people feel that they have committed too many sins in this life and they fear the outcome. On the other hand, it is not obligatory to cover oneself in the position you are speaking about, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentions that we should always maintain our modesty, even when alone because modesty should be maintained in front of God.
Omitting a Duty of Umrah
Q. Some years back, when I first arrived in this country, I performed my first Umrah, finishing with shaving my head. I stayed a week in Makkah at the time, performing the Umrah four more times on behalf of some of my deceased relatives. However, since I had shaved my head the first time, I did not do that again in the subsequent Umrahs. I was not aware of the fact that shaving one’s head or cutting one’s hair was a duty part of the Umrah. What is my position now with regard to those four Umrahs?
Shahu M. Ahmad
A. Shaving one’s head is one of the four duties required when we perform the Umrah. However, scholars consider that a bald man with no hair on his head should emulate the shaving by passing a razor over his head.
This is recommended by the majority of scholars, but the Hanafi school of Fiqh considers it a duty. The reader was practically in the same position as a completely bald man.
As such, and since he performed those Umrahs several years ago, we advise him on the basis of the majority view that he omitted what was recommended. This means that he does not need to do anything now, and his Umrahs were, God willing, valid.
Another point that supports this ruling is that he omitted this part of the Umrah through a genuine mistake. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says that God pardons us what we omit through forgetfulness, a genuine mistake or compulsion.
Arab News Islam 19 May 2003
