Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I started earning in may of 1997 and since then I have earned about $30,000 US. I made donations with the intention of zakaat, but I am not sure if I calculated it correctly and now I have no record of how much I paid but I remember one instance of a donation of$500 to a charitable organization. From my earnings I have only a few thousand and I purchased gold which I still have. Can you help me calculate how much I owe and how do I keep track from now on of my zakaat. If I paid less can I do something to seek forgiveness and make amends?
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
For zakat, there are a few considerations:
1) Having the zakatable minimum (nisab), above and beyond one’s immediate expenses and one’s debts;
2) If you have this, then you have to finish a zakat year (hawl) before zakat becomes due;
3) If you have more than the zakatable minimum at the end of this zakat year’, then zakat is due.
Thus, make an estimate of how much you would probably have had at the end of each zakat year’ using your best judgment and that is how much zakat you have to pay. Consider this a debt, and pay it off as soon as you reasonably can.
Recognize your mistake, and repent. Simple.
Note, too, that zakat is not valid to give to organizations for their operations (unless they give the zakat itself to the poor directly). See attached answer(s).
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani