FATWAS - ON ZAKAT

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Q- Is there Zakah payable on one's personal car?
A- There is no Zakah payable on it. Everything a person uses for himself, except gold and silver jewelry, there is no Zakah to be paid on it, whether a car, a camel, a farm implement or anything else, according to a saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), "There is no Zakah payable by a Muslim on his slave, nor on his horse."


Q- What is the ruling on the Zakah of a rented house?
A- If a rented house is rented out for profit, then there is no Zakah payable on the value of the house. The Zakah is only payable on the income that is generated from it if the hawl (passage of one Hijrah hear) is completed upon it from the time of the rental agreement. If the hawl has not been completed from the time of the rental agreement, then there is no Zakah payable upon it either.
For example, if the person rented out the house for ten thousand riyals, of which he receives five thousand at the time of the agreement which he spends. Then he receives five thousand in the middle of the year, which he spends before the end of the year, there is no Zakah upon him in this case. This is because the hawl has not been completed upon this money.
However, if he kept the house for sale and waited to receive the profit from it, but said: Since it has not been sold, I will rent it out,' then in that case, he must pay Zakah for the value of the house because he has kept it for sale; he did not want to keep it and profit from it.
And everything which is intended for the purpose of trade and profit is liable for Zakah, according to the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him), "Deeds are according to intentions and every person shall have what he intended." And Allah knows best.


Q- A man has daughters and he gave them jewelry, and all the jewelry combined amounted to the nisab, but the jewelry of each of them did not amount to the nisab. Is all of the jewelry to be taken together for calculation and Zakah paid on it?
A- If he gave this jewelry as a loan, then the jewelry is his property, and he must total it all and if that reaches the nisab, he must pay Zakah. But if he gave his daughters this jewelry with the intention that it was their property, then it is not incumbent upon him to combine the jewelry he gave to each one of them with the jewelry of the other daughters, because each of them owns it independently of the other. Based upon this, if the jewelry of one amounts to the nisab, she must pay Zakah for it, and if it does not, then she does not have to. And Allah knows best.

Q- Is there Zakah on livestock which are fed for half of the year?
A- There is no Zakah on livestock which is fed for a half of the year in total, because Zakah on livestock is not obligatory unless they are Sa'imah. Sa'imah are animals which are reared on what Allah produces from the earth for a complete year, or for more than a year. As for animals fed for part of a year, or half of the year, there is no Zakah due upon them, unless they are prepared for sale, for these carry the ruling of Zakah on merchandize.

– Excepted from Islamic Verdicts on the Pillars of Islam by Sheikh Muhammad Bin Salih Al-'Uthaimeen, complied and arranged by Fahd Bin Nasir Ibrahim As-Sulaiman