Zakah on Several Types of Property, Adil Salahi

Opinion, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Zakah on Several Types of Property

Adil Salahi, Arab News, 9/12/03

Q.1. I am paying zakah on all my possessions except for 85 grams of gold jewelry for my wife. Could you please corroborate whether my action is correct?

Q.2. The prayer known as tasabeeh is widely practiced in India, but not so here, although it is mentioned in a Hadith related by Abu Dawood, Ibn Majah and others. Why do Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Al-Tirmidhi not mention it?

M. Naseeruddin, Jeddah

A.1. As you mention, you have several types of property. The land you have is intended as investment. Hence, it is liable to zakah at the rate of 2.5 percent of its market value, which is likely to change from year to year. If it goes up, then your zakah on that particular property goes up as well. The bonds you have are also liable to zakah at the same rate, and this applies to both capital and profit.

Your wife’s jewelry is not liable to zakah at all, if it is for her personal use. Its value is well within what is reasonable, although it may be more than 85 grams. You are confusing two things here when you bring up this figure. This is the threshold of zakah, but it does not have to be in actual gold. Suppose you do not have anything in gold, but have 100,000 riyals; you are liable to zakah. The figure has nothing to do with the amount of jewelry any woman has.

Besides, why do you include your wife’s jewelry with your property? It is hers, and she is the one to consider whether it is liable to zakah or not. A woman’s jewelry intended for her personal use is not liable to zakah.

The same applies to your daughter’s jewelry, unless you consider it your own property.

As for the deposit you have in her name, to be used for her marriage, you have to consider whether you have taken it out of your property and given it to your daughter or not. If you consider it her own property and you have no claim to it other than that of a father on his children, then she is the one to pay its zakah. But if you are simply reserving it for her, then it is your property, and you pay its zakah. As for the insurance policies, they are liable to zakah on their maturity. When you receive their proceeds, you pay their zakah right away — once only. Then you include these with the rest of your property on your next zakah date.

A.2. If some scholars mention a particular Hadith, it is because they consider it of a reasonable degree of authenticity. Since Al-Bukhari and most Hadith scholars do not mention the Hadith concerning the tasabeeh prayer, this indicates that they did not consider it to be reasonably authentic. The Hadith in question is rated as poor on authenticity, or dhaeef, which means that it cannot be the basis of confirmed rulings. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who is a scholar of the highest caliber in both Hadith and fiqh, feels that there are no sufficient grounds to suggest that this prayer is Sunnah.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).