Zakat Payment in Advance in Shafii Madhab
By Shaykh Taha Karaan
Posted: 5 Zul-Qa'dah 1422, 19 January 2002
Dar al-'Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah
Cape Town
South Africa
| Q.) I am a Shafii follower. In my country we have the scheme to pay
zakat for our monthly salary (working with government). According to Shafii school of
teaching, do we have to pay that type of zakat? If we pay that zakat, do we still have
to pay the zakat of our money (cash curency) after reaching its haul and nisab. [Norashid
Aziz UK] |
A.) An adequate response to this question requires a more than cursory
knowledge of the workings of the zakah scheme by the Malaysian government.
However, it might be mentioned as a matter of principle that the Shafi'i madhhab
permits the payment of zakah before the time that it actually becomes wajib, i.e.
before the conclusion of the year during which one has been in possession of the nisab, as
long as it is executed during the course of that year.
In the case of a year which concludes on the 1st Ramadan, for example, one may give out
the zakah at anytime during the 12 lunar months that precede that date, but not more than
12 months before it.
It would seem that the Malaysian goverment scheme works in this way: that it subtracts
from the employee's salary instalments towards the payment of his zakah of a particular
year DURING the run of that year. If it is in fact so, this would be permissible in the
Shafi'i madhhab, and the zakah thus paid will not have to be repaid upon the conclusion of
the year. Wallahu Ta'ala A'lam
Q & A