Question Summary:
If an elderly person has no source of income does he have to pay zakat? Question Detail:
My question is about eligibility of zakat at old age when there is no source of income for retired person. For example my uncle has given zakat all his life regular n complete. Now he is 75. He sold his spare home and submitted the money in Islamic bank finance scheme from where he gets monthly interest which helps him to run his day to day expenses. He does not have any pension and no other adequate source of income. He has his own home only as property. Certainly he is now fairly elderly n struggle in day to day expenses and just manages with the income from bank as he has 2 dependants as well.
My question is that does he still have to give zakat and if he has to then how will it be calculated? If you have any references from Quran or Hadith please do let me know as well.
Answer :
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
In principle, Zakat is obligatory on a person if
1. He is a Muslim
2. He is free (not a slave),
3. He is sane
4. He is mature (has reached the age of puberty)
5. He possesses wealth equivalent to Nisaab (Quantum). The Nisaab of zakat is 20 Mithqals (87.479 g) for gold and 200 Dirhams (612.35g) for silver or cash equivalent to that amount.
Furthermore the wealth should be:
Fully owned by him
In his possession for a complete lunar year
Of a productive nature from which he can derive profit or benefit such as merchandise for business, gold, silver and livestock, etc.
Hence, if your uncle’s wealth including the full amount submitted to the Islamic Finance Scheme is equivalent to or more than the Nisaab then he must pay 2.5 percent of that amount keeping in mind the above-mentioned details.
Kindly refer to the following table for more details on calculating Zakat:
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Personal Wealth
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Amounts:
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1. Amount of Cash and savings at home or in the bank
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R 10,000
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2. Current value of any gold and silver , coins, utensils etc.
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R 5,000
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3. Value of assets and merchandise for trade
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R 20,000
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4. Receivable and loaned amounts to others
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R 5,000
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Total these amounts here:
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R 40,000
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Amount Debts to be paid:
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R 20,000
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Subtract the total amount of debts for the year from the above amount.
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Net Total of Zakatable Wealth
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R 20,000
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if the net total of Zakatable Wealth is more than the Nisab amount then…
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Multiply the net total by 2.5% (net amount x 0.025)
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R 500
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And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Muntasir Zaman
Student Darul Iftaa
USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
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