I am working in Dubai and earning a good salary, till 2007 I have paid zakah on all the cash I had either in UAE currency or Indian currency for plus on all the gold. I have a decent house in India to live where I can settle down after I retire. I am continuously purchasing property in India from my savings so my savings are now not in the form of cash or gold but property. The intention of buying the property is not for immediate sale but for parking my wealth in a different form due to devaluation of Indian rupee and I do not want interest on if I leave it in bank. So you can say that I am parking my savings in the form of property. Which I may (1) Sell if I return back to India and want to start some business. (2) Or continue my livelihood in India through the rent of these properties. (3) Or give it to my kids when they grow up and need a separate house after marriage. Can you please answer all the above three situations separately.
Answer
(Fatwa: 304/L=196/TL=1433)
(1, 2, 3) Zakah becomes wajib on the value of property when it is bought with the firm intention of selling. If at the time of property purchasing you had no definite intention of selling it or you intended to sell it in case you hope some profit. In such case zakah shall not be wajib. All the three purposes with which you bought the property none of them has the definite intention of selling; hence zakah shall not be wajib on all the three properties bought by you.
Allah (Subhana Wa Ta’ala) knows Best
Darul Ifta,
Darul Uloom Deoband