What is the Ruling if One Was Uncertain About the Proper Way of Giving Zakat?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

My mum has a debt to pay zakat for a certain number of past years from the time of her rukhsati. The number of years was about 33 Hijri years. A good few years have been covered. My mum told me that for the first 17 years, she can recall that the jeweler visited, and the weight remained the same for the first few years. So they’d ask the jeweler zakat each year, and he’d tell acc. to present rate. My mum would tell my father to pay it, and he’d pay it to someone needy.

However, I now realize the concepts of my father regarding zakat are vague. He thinks tax returns cover zakat or zakat, and charity may be similar. I don’t think they were clear even about the eight categories. I don’t know if my mum made an intention each time. Should it be repaid?

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.

As you mentioned, your mother would tell your father, which is considered an intention; he would ask the jeweler and pay the needy. Therefore her Zakat will be regarded as valid. There is nothing to worry about.

Zakat is the transfer of ownership (tamlik) of a portion of wealth specified by the Lawgiver to a particular person with its intention. Because it is an act of worship rather than a tax, zakat is not valid without its intention, which must be present either:

• When one pays it to the recipient;
• When one gives it to one’s agent appointed to pay it on one’s behalf; or
• When one sets it aside to be paid as zakat in the future.

If one pays it without its intention, then it only fulfills one’s zakat obligation if one later intends it as such while it is still intact in the recipient’s possession. Moreover, the recipient does not have to know that it is one’s zakat payment. One may, for example, call it a “gift” or “loan” while paying it to the recipient, all the while intending it to fulfill the zakat obligation (and then later forgive the “loan”). [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; ‘Ala’ al-Din Ibn ‘Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya; Tahtawi, Hashiyat al-Tahtawi ‘Ala Maraqi al-Falah]

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

Related:

• Zakat: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader
• SeekersGuidance Zakat Calculator
• Paying Zakat Late
• Prayer of Repentance: Salat al-Tawba

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.