Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Karim Yahya, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I have a serious issue regarding my payment of Zakat. For the past 4-5 years I have not addressed the payment of Zakat due to general confusion over the issue and not having the lump sum to pay according to what the local Imam has suggested. The issues I face are several.
(1) I make good money and so I do not claim to be poor. However, throughout the year I don’t maintain a savings. My money is spent tending to the needs of myself and my family such that I live paycheck to paycheck. There are times during the year where I may have anywhere from 2-3 thousand dollars but it usually gets exhausted tending to family needs. Yet, none of this prevents me from giving charity and assisting others in need. So I don’t deem myself to miserly, more so, I consider myself to be poor in managing my wealth. And I ask Allah to assist me in this.
2. I have debts, as most Americans do, and the debts continue to accrue from large medical expenses and other bills that may fall in collections due to not being paid on time. I’d guess my rough debts are somewhere in the amount of 10,000-15,000. My intention is to repay these debts overtime with the help of Allah (swt).
3. The suggestion of the local Imam, considering most members of the community are in similar circumstances, is to take the net income and subtract from that (net income) the expenditures that one uses to take care of ones necessities (i.e. food, shelter, clothing, etc). From there one takes 2.5% of the remaining balance and pays Zakat on that. For instance, if ones net income is 50,000 he would then subtract 30,000 for expenses leaving a remainder of 20,000 which would them be Zakat-payable income. So his effective Zakat for the year would be $500.Another suggested method is to simply pay2.5% on every 1,000 that you earn. Based on this calculation my zakat for the last 4-5 years would range from $500 to $1,300 (roughly). I rarely have this amount of money to give as a lump sum in Zakat and each year at Ramadan I wind up being in the same situation unable to pay the suggested amount. It is suggested to make payments on this amount though I have failed to do so. Thus, according to this method my past due Zakat would
be somewhere between $2,500 and $6,500.
4. Some have suggested using the yearly tax return and either paying the whole amount in Zakat or paying Zakat on the amount that is given for the tax return.Ultimately, I am confused and not sure how I should handle this affair. I fear that I may be outside the fold of Islam, yet I feel that I have grown closer to Allah in many ways his blessings are many over my family. Moreover, I don’t want the body of Muslims to think that I am denying this pillar of Islam and want to redress this matter and move forward, Insha Allah. At this point I have considered using a theoretical model to formulate Zakat on my own but don’t want to introduce something into the religion. Additionally, I don’t think the debt will go away anytime soon and I would like to still pay Zakat every year along with redressing the debts. How does one deal with circumstances such as these in light of the Qur’an and Sunnah?
In The Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah help us all to obey Him and bless us to fulfill and understand this great pillar of Islam.
In the light of the Sacred Law of Islam which is drawn from the Qur’an and sunna, it does not appear that you owe zakat on your wealth, rather it appears that you are eligible to receive zakat to pay your debts.
Zakat on money is obligatory with two conditions:
(1) that one posses a zakat-payable amount (the current market value of 592.9 grams of silver [about $222 when this was written]),
(2) that this amount remains in one’s ownership for an entire lunar year.
Concerning the proof of this second condition, Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Allah have mercy on him, said in Tuhfa: “This is due to the prophetic tradition, ‘There is no zakat on wealth until a year passes over it.’ It [this tradition] is weak; however it is rigorously authenticated (sahih) in Abu Dawud’s opinion. Its authenticity is also reinforced by numerous rigorously authenticated (sahih) traditions from many prophetic companions. Once more, the followers of the companions (tabi’in) and the jurists came to scholarly consensus (ijma’) about this point. Even if some of the prophetic companions disagreed, Allah be pleased with them.”[1] What this means is that in addition to a prophetic tradition and traditions from numerous prophetic companions, the scholars of the Muslim nation have been in agreement about a year having to pass over wealth for zakat to be due on it since the second generation. And Allah knows best.
It does not sound like you are able to maintain a savings, so you do not fulfill this second condition. Even if you have a zakat-payable amount at some time during the year, it does not remain with you for a whole lunar year. Therefore you do not owe zakat on that wealth. To make it clearer we will illustrate by example. Zaid has a wage which allows him to cover all of his monthly expenses, but not to save. On Safar 10, 1426AH Zaid receives some inheritance which allows him to put $500 in the bank. Now he has a zakat-payable amount in his possession. If a zakat-payable amount from this money, $300 for example, is still in his possession on Safar 10, 1427AH he will owe zakat on it. However if some expense comes and consumes enough of this sum that Zaid no longer has a zakat-payable amount remain, then he does not owe zakat on it. As we said previously the zakat-payable amount is the current market value of 592.9 grams of silver (about $222 when this was written). So unless you have this value remain in your ownership for an entire lunar year you do not have to pay zakat.
However paying off your debts is obligatory and it takes precedence over voluntary charity. So you should endeavor to pay off your debts and live as frugally as you can until you do so. If you are unable to pay them off and they were borrowed for a lawful purpose, you are eligible to receive zakat to do this.[2]
As for your local community, we would advise you to use caution and wisdom in dealing with them because they seem rather confused about this issue. For further reading on this subject you can refer to sections h1.11-h1.12 and h8.16 of Reliance of The Traveler. And Allah knows best and he alone gives success (tawfiq).
[1] Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Hawashi al-Sharwani Wa Ibn Qasim al-Abbadi ‘Ala Tuhfah al-Muhtaj Bisharh al-Minhaj (Beruit, Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi), 3:232.
[2] See: Yahya Bin Sharaf al-Nawawi, Minhaj al-Talibin Wa ‘Umdah al-Muftin (Eygpt: Sharikah Maktabah wa Matba’ah Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi wa Awladuhu, 1338 A.H. [1920 C.E.]), p.94.