Question 29 : Assalamaualaikum Respected Sheikhs,

I pray that Allah grants you barakah and increase from all your good deeds in this blessed month, and that He preserves and protects you and your families. I have three questions relating to Zakat; I’d be much obliged if you could answer them for me please:

Question 1:

A brother is purchasing a property on interest-free instalment basis. The agreed amount was $140,000 paid within 5 years, out of which he has paid $100,000 already. He has $40,000 remaining to be paid by this time next year.

The question is, does he have to pay Zakat on the portion/share of land that he now owns? That is, the $100,000 value he now holds.

Note that he doesn’t have the title or ownership until the full amount is paid.

Question 2:

Can Zakat be paid to help with medical care/bills? There is a brother overseas whose son suffers from a rare condition. The family is known to us, so we know that they’re genuinely in need of help with the expenses. Can we use Zakat for that?

Question 3:

A brother owns an investment property which he rents out. The question is: does he pay Zakat on the $24,000 rent that he receives per annum, or on the value of the house, which is about $500,000?

Thanks very much, and JazakumAllah Khair.

Answer: Walaikumussalam Brother,

Ameen to your dua for all of us!

Answer to Q1:

Zakat is ofcourse not required to be given on property except if the property, once acquired, was to be an immediate sale item to others. Otherwise a property that is for living, renting or even just keeping vacant, there is no Zakat on it. Therefore, the 100k paid out of the 140k to pay for purchase of property that you mentioned, there is no Zakat on the 100k paid already.

The note you mentioned in Q1 that the buyer does not have title of the land sold till all money is paid over the period of time, it seems from the brief incomplete mention that you made of the deal that it may not really be halaal. The way shown by the Quran and in Hadith as explained by scholars of fiqh is that at any sale transaction the ownership is transfered at the moment of sale once completed, even if the price is to be paid over time as a debt. But lets not go into that so technical in this Question’s answer.

Answer to Q2:

There are various aspects to this question. Firstly, Zakat is not allowed to be given for medical treatment, for its own sake, if the person has the money needed themselves from their own income and assets, or from the income and assets of the one who is obliged to spend for their needs, example the obligation of husband to spend for wife or of parent for the child. So long as the husband or parent has enough money for the medical treatment, then the rest of the community is not obliged nor allowed to put zakat money to it because the person is neither poor nor miskin category for zakat.

Second, if the person undergoing medical treatment does not have the required money for the treatment nor has a way to earn that amount in time, then zakat money can be given to such a person for their medical treatment that is necessary.

Answer 3 to Q3:

There is no zakat required to be given on an investment property’s value that is rented out. The rent money is put together with rest of their money. Whatever total is saved from currency/gold/silver every 12 months, eg by Ramadan each year, then zakat is required on that income. So if the person gets 24k in rent yet spends it all on his own family’s needs, then none remains and thus no zakat is required. So put the $24k along with rest of year long savings (of gold, silver or currency) and check how much it is each Ramadan, and give zakat on that one year saved amount.

That is the last of the three questions! May Allah accept the good deeds you mentioned and reward for it for Allah is Ash-Shakoor (The One Who thanks)!