Zakah on house rent.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Dear
Brother,
Assalam
Alaikum,
With reference to your answer to Q.No. 5771, please check your answer with the
logic.
Suppose
I have one house for living and another house or two which I gave for rent.
Let`s say the monthly rent which is the only income that I receive from those
houses is Rs 10,000. Suppose my (family of 6 members) mothly expenditure is say
Rs 8,000, also add to it the taxes I have to pay to government annually
including the house where I am living is Rs 12,000, that will make my monthly
expenses to Rs 9,000. Please remember I have no other income, no job, no idea
of investment.
Let us
evaluate the total cost of the assents of these 2 houses that are given for
rent, say Rs 20,00,000. As per your understanding you say I have to pay zakat
of 2.5% that will be Rs 50,000, that comes to around Rs 4166/- per month. If
you add this to my monthly expenses, it will be 13166/-. If you subtract Rs
13166 from my monthly income of 12000 Rs (12000-13166 = -1166 Rs). Also please
note that I did not include the period when the houses will be vacant without
being rented for say one or two months. and still I have to pay the government
tax.
The
above case can still be balanced if I reduce my house expenses. Think of the
case where one has one house for living and other house for rent as the only
source of income. I know, now you will give me the reference of the Hadith of
Rasoolulah (peace be upon him) that one has to invest in order to avoid this
situation. If so, tell me how does he invest his house which is the only source
of income.
Now
please tell me from where shall I bring the remaining amount. OK I will borrow
from some where to pay zakat for this year and what about for the subsequent
years. At the end I have to sell one of my house and then the second and at the
end I have to bring my family on road for begging.
I need your immediate reply as this is very serious case.
Dear
brother, I have heard from many scholars of highest rank, they say that the
zakat is only from your annual income what you earn from these houses and not
from the total assets of these houses.
Please
before giving any ruling check with the authentic scholars of highest ranks.
Don`t mislead the people.
Sorry
for the hard words, but your answers are really out of once understanding and
practical.
The
scholars even say, for example to buy the two houses which I own I save money
for few years, but I have to keep paying zakat for this money at the end of
each year at the rate of 2.5%, and once you bought the houses and gave for
rent, you need to pay zakat for the saving you left with at the end of the
year.
Islam
even says, don`t leave your children without money for begging and so on. (I
don`t remember the exact wording of the hadith)
Waiting
for your reply at the earliest
Allah
Hafiz
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Zakah on house rent
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
Respected brother in Islam, I do understand the
predicament in the case narrated by you, but we absolutely assure you in the
name of Allah Subhanah, that the laws of determining ‘zakah’ are not made by us
….. it is none other than Allah Subhanah and His Messenger (saws) alone who
have made these laws; and it is in them whom the believers have professed their
belief and their trust.
Listed below are the two underlying principles when
determining ‘zakah’:
1. If the total nett worth of any believer is more than the prescribed ‘nisaab’ of 7.5 tolas of gold (app. 85 grams or app. Value US$1,000.00), then the person is liable to pay the obligatory zakat of 2.5% on their excess wealth which has been in their possession for a full calendar year.
2. For the purpose of determining ‘zakah’, the ‘Net Excess
Assets’ would be the current market value of all of one’s assets (properties,
jewelry, cash, etc.) except:
Your
Question: Suppose I have one house for living and another house or two which I
gave for rent.
The house one actually lives in will be obviously exempt
from any ‘zakah’, but the believer will have to pay ‘zakah’ annually on the
market value of the two other houses which he owns, irrespective of whether
they generate any rental income or not.
Your
Question: Now please tell me from where shall I bring the remaining amount. OK
I will borrow from some where to pay zakat for this year and what about for the
subsequent years. At the end I have to sell one of my house and then the second
and at the end I have to bring my family on road for begging.
I need your
immediate reply as this is very serious case.
Allah says in the Glorious Quran, Chapter 2,
Surah Baqarah, verse 261
The charity of those who expend their wealth in
the Way of Allah may be likened to a grain of corn, which produces seven ears
and each ear yields a hundred grains. Likewise Allah develops manifold the
charity of anyone He pleases, for He is All-Embracing, All-Wise.
Allah says in the Glorious Quran, Chapter 2,
Surah Baqarah, verse 254:
Believers, spend of the wealth We have bestowed
upon you (in Allah's Cause), before the Day comes when there shall be no buying
and no selling; when neither friendship nor intercession will be of any avail.
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘I swear
by Allah, your wealth will never be diminished by giving charity.’
Related by Bukhari and Muslim.
Respected brother, such is the importance of paying one’s
obligatory annual ‘zakah’ in Islam that the Messenger of Allah (saws) listed
‘zakah’ as one of the five pillars upon which the deen of Islam stands
upon!
Allah Subhanah, the Lord Creator and Provider of all in
existence, has Himself demanded that those who have professed belief in Him and
the Last Day fulfill the obligatory worship of ‘zakah’ unto Him from the excess
sustenance which the Lord Most Gracious Himself has provided them with. If one looks at ‘zakah’ as a ‘tax’ or a
‘levy’, then indeed one might feel it to be a burden…..but if one believes that
by giving a small percentage of one’s excess savings in the Cause of Allah one
would purify one’s balance wealth…..and believes with absolute conviction that
they will have a manifold reward for fulfilling their worship of ‘zakah’ in the
Presence of their Lord…… the paying of ‘zakah’ would not feel like a
‘tax-burden’ but rather like an absolute ‘rock-solid investment’, the returns
of which are guaranteed by none other than Allah Subhanah, the Lord of the
Worlds Himself!
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah
Nisaa verses 36-40:
36 Serve Allah and join not any partners with Him: and do good to parents,
kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are
strangers, the companion by your side, the way-farer (ye meet), and what your
right hands possess: for Allah loves not the arrogant, the vainglorious;
37 (Nor does He love) those who are niggardly or enjoin niggardliness
on others or hide the bounties which Allah hath bestowed on them; for We have
prepared for those who resist faith a punishment that steeps them in contempt!
38 (Nor) those who spend of their substance to be seen of men, but have
no faith in Allah and the Last Day: if any take the Shaytaan for their
intimate, what a dreadful intimate he is!
39 And what burden were it on them if they had faith in Allah and in
the Last Day and they spent (in Allah’s Cause) out of what Allah hath given
them for sustenance? For Allah hath full
Knowledge of them.
40 Allah is never unjust in the least degree: if there is any
good (done) He doubles it (at least), and gives from His Own Presence a Great Reward.
Your
Question: I need your immediate reply as this is very serious case.
Beloved brother in Islam, just imagine that almost half
the population of the world do not have enough to eat two square meals a
day….and one whom The Lord Most Bounteous has blessed with enough sustenance to
own three houses, strives to make excuses in paying his paltry annual ‘zakah’!
If one who owns three houses and is unable with his
current level of income and expenses to fulfill his ‘zakah’ obligations, just
imagine the predicament of one who has a small amount and invests that full
amount in a small business and that business starts to make a loss!!!! That businessman still has to pay his annual
‘zakah’ on his ‘goods of trade’, regardless of whether his business makes an
annual profit or loss!
Your
Question: Please before giving any ruling check with the authentic scholars of
highest ranks.
Beloved brother, we absolutely assure you that the answers
we write on this humble forum are taken from and then proof-read for accuracy
and alignment to the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah by the most eminent
of scholars!
Your
Question: Don`t mislead the people.
Respected brother, if I or anyone amongst the brothers or
sisters who volunteer their time and effort on this humble forum were to seek even
an iota of material or worldly benefit in exchange for our humble
services….then perchance our intentional ‘misleading of people’ might bring us
some gain.
Allah is our witness brother, we would gain absolutely
nothing by ‘misleading the people’ except bring about the Wrath and the Anger
and the Eternal Punishment of the Lord Most Majestic upon ourselves…..whereas
our one and only intention in providing this humble service is only to seek but
the Mercy, Pleasure and Good-Will of our Lord Most Merciful!
Your
Question: Islam even says, don`t leave your children without money for begging
and so on. (I don`t remember the exact wording of the hadith)
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 7.572 Narrated by Sad bin Malik
Allah's Messenger (saws) came to visit me
during my ailment which had been aggravated during Hajjat-al-Wada. I said to
him (saws), "You see how sick I am. I have much property but have no heir
except my only daughter. May I give two thirds of my property in
charity?"! He (saws) said, "No." I said, "Half of it?"
He (saws) said, "No." I said "One third?" He (saws) said,
"One third is (also) too much, for to leave your heirs rich is
better than to leave them poor, begging of others. Nothing you spend
seeking Allah's Pleasure but you shall get a reward for it, even for what you
put in the mouth of your wife."
Indeed the Messenger of Allah (saws) guided his companion
and the believers at large that it is better to leave one’s heirs rich rather
than leave them poor, begging of others for their survival….but the context of
his guidance was to a believing companion who was blessed with abundance and sought
permission to give all of 2/3rds or 66.67% of his entire wealth to voluntary charity
in excess of his obligatory ‘zakah’ ….not to one who was worried or feared that
the fulfilling of a mere 2.50% ‘zakah’ obligation alone would leave his heirs
destitute!
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 47 Surah
Muhammad verse 38:
38 Behold ye are those invited to spend (of your substance) in the
Cause of Allah: but among you are some that are niggardly. But any who are niggardly are so at the
expense of their own souls. But Allah is
free of all wants and it is ye that are needy.
If ye turn back (from the Path) He will substitute in your stead another
people; then they would not be like you!
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
