What Can I Do If My Husband Intends All His Charitable Money with the Intention of His Zakat?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I have a decent amount of gold. Every year, I pay Zakat, and for that purpose, I take money from my husband because I’m not doing any job. So is this right, or should I sell my gold jewelry to pay off my Zakat? I’ve been doing this for the last 25 years.

My second question is complicated. My husband is also a Doctor, and his source of income is his salary. He says he cannot calculate his Zakat and how much he should pay. We send money to Pakistan regularly for charity and sadaqa. I do sadaqa for my deceased parents, and for that purpose, I take money from my husband because I don’t do a job, and my husband doesn’t give me pocket money.

Now I learned that his intention is to pay off his Zakat whenever my husband gives money for sadaqa/charity, including the money I take for sadaqa for my deceased parents. He said he has been doing this thing for years. So, the cash I take from him for the sadaqa of my parents, he gives me with the intention of his Zakat, will it be accepted or not?

He said Allah is Rehman Rahim Ghafur, so I can’t calculate all these. He gives lots of charity, but his first intention is to pay off his Zakat. He told me he says to Allah that all my sadaqa/charity is considered Zakat.

Is this attitude of paying off Zakat in that manner right or acceptable?

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.

Your husband’s attitude to paying off his annual Zakat in this manner is wrong. He needs to revise his intentions and be spoken to seriously but with wisdom by a reliable scholar to make him understand the importance and requirements of Zakat disposal and the difference between Zakat and charity (sadaqa). See the link below.

Asking Husband for Zakat Money

It is permissible for you to take money from your husband to pay your Zakat. You may pay off your Zakat by selling some of your jewelry, too, or if your husband doesn’t support you, is unable to, etc. See the link below.

Zakat to Poor to Reward Deceased In-Laws

Your intention to take money from your husband was to send the reward to your parents. So, if your husband gave money with the intention of Zakat, and you gave the money to the poor with the intention of sending reward to your parents, then if this, in reality, is his intention and Zakat, then it will only absolve him of his duty of Zakat, and the reward will not be given to your parents.

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

Related Answers

• Zakat: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader
• SeekersGuidance Zakat Calculator
• The Wife’s Responsibility to Pay Zakat, Paying Zakat When One Has Loan Payments, and
  
• What Is the Difference Between Ongoing Charity and Regular Charity? – SeekersGuidance
  
• Online Zakat Calculators – SeekersGuidance

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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.