Would Items Purchased before the Payment of One’s Unzakated Wealth Become Impermissible (Haram)?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I read a fatwa on your website, which I found nowhere else, and due to this, I have felt so devastated that I’ve stopped my necessary expenditures and made myself and my family, my beloved mother, suffer horribly. A part of the fatwa on your website stated one’s unzakated wealth becomes haram. Does it mean whatever amount my father deposited in my account, whether for savings or household and personal expenditures from the past six years, if I’ve never paid Zakat on that money (as I was unaware about zakat on cash earlier), that wealth is now haram for me, and I should not spend on myself and my mother for the daily expenditures? I’ve been struggling to calculate the Zakat. Would items purchased before payment become haram?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question and seeking clarity.
As you mentioned, you didn’t know about the obligation of paying Zakat. You should not worry and pay Zakat for the previous years by estimating the total Zakatable amount. The items that were purchased are not impermissible.
Focus on calculating an estimated Zakatable amount for the previous years to the best of your ability and give the due of 2.5% of it from each year as much as you can going forward until you complete the repayment of the zakat.
Any unpaid Zakat from previous years is treated as a liability and debt. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Tahtawi, Hashiyat al-Tahtawi ‘Ala Maraqi al-Falah]
I would advise you that despite this answer, you should consult a reliable, local scholar on the specifics of your Zakatable details. You may also use a Zakat calculator, which can be found in the link below.
Related:
Zakat: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader
Zakat: How to Calculate & Whom to Give
SeekersGuidance Zakat Calculator
Is Your Zakat Due? – A Reader and Resources on Giving Zakat
Zakat Questions: Resetting Start Date, Miscalculations, and Debt Deduction
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance?
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
