Is Zakat Paid on Income You Had for a Year or What You Accrued That Year?
Shafi'i Fiqh
Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
Question
If in 2021 when I paid my zakat, I had £5000 left, and by the time it was time to pay my zakat in the following year (2022), I had a total savings of £6000, do I pay my zakat on the £6000 or £5000 that I had at the beginning of the year?
Answer
May Allah reward you for your sincerity and grant you an increase in all aspects of your life year after year.
Nisab
It says in the Reliance of the Traveller:
h1.1 Zakat is obligatory:
- for every free Muslim (O: male, female, adult, or child);
- who has possessed a zakat-payable amount (Ar. nisab, the minimum that necessitates zakat, def: for livestock h2.4-S; for grain and dried foodstuffs h3.4; for gold, silver, and other money h4.2; and for trade goods h5.1);
- for one lunar year.
Therefore, you must pay 2.5% of the £6000 because that is what you own.
Please see this link as well:
Zakat: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader
May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.
