What are the methods of zakat in islam? What is the method of giving zakat? What is the proper way of giving zakat?
According to the Ḥanafis, zakāt debts can be paid in kind of the goods themselves, as well as in their value. The evidence they rely on is the Sunnah. The fact that Allah’s Messenger (saw) ordered to cover the age difference between animals by giving two sheep or twenty dirhams when paying the zakāt of animals,[1] as well as giving the zakāt of five camels as one sheep shows that one variety can be given in place of another.
It is permissible to give the zakāt of gold, silver, agricultural products, domestic animals, and commercial goods subject to zakāt in their own kind as well as in their value. Owners have the right to choose in this regard. As a matter of fact, in addition to the tithe, kharāj, fiṭra, votives, and emancipation of the slaves, the same ruling is applied in the case of atonements.
According to Abu Ḥanīfa, the date on which zakāt becomes obligatory is essential in determining the value of zakāt, while according to Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad it is the date of payment. For sāima animals, it is unanimously accepted as the payment day.[2]
The Prophet (saw) saw a big humped camel among the zakāt camels. “Didn’t I forbid you to take people’s best goods as zakāt?” The Messenger of Allah did not say anything when the zakāt officer said, “I collected this from the zakāt camels in place of two camels.”[3] It is clear that taking one camel in place of two shows the permissibility of payment of zakāt based on the value.
The purpose of zakāt is to meet the needs of the poor. These needs can be met by giving zakāt to the poor in kind of the zakāt property itself, or by giving other types of goods or cash instead of paying zakāt in kind.
Accordingly, a person can give food or clothes as much as the value of the zakāt for the zakāt of gold. In like manner, instead of sāima animals or trade goods, cash as much as their value can be given as zakāt. However, in this regard, it is more appropriate to prefer whichever payment type is more beneficial for the poor.
According to the Shafiʿis, it is essential to give the zakāt of each property in its own kind, their value cannot be given as zakāt.
It is not permissible to donate a receivable as zakāt of a property or of any other receivable. This is because the receivable is incomplete when compared to the goods in terms of their costs. Therefore, something incomplete cannot be given in exchange for something complete.
If a person donates all of his receivables from a poor person to that poor person, the zakāt of this debt is deemed to have been paid. In like manner, if he donates a part of the debt, only the zakāt of that part is deemed to be paid.
On the other hand, a person cannot deduct his receivables from a poor person against the zakāt of his other goods. Again, a poor person cannot count such a receivable in return for the zakāt of another receivable.
It is a good principle that the receivables of people who have difficulty in paying their debts cannot be offset against zakāt. If this deduction were deemed permissible, tradesmen and merchants could abuse this ruling by counting their bad debts in place of their zakāt. On the other hand, debtors who are in trouble or who present themselves in trouble may wait until the end of the year to have their debts counted as zakāt. This would lead to the loss of the rights of the ones who really are poor.
On the other hand, if the creditor wants to relieve his poor debtor from his debt by means of zakāt, he will give him the zakāt of his other goods subject to zakāt, and the poor can pay his debt with it.
However, if the receivable from a wealthy person is donated to that wealthy person after the passage of one year, according to the sound opinion, the zakāt of that receivable will not be deemed as paid.
If a person appoints a poor person as his agent to go and collect his receivable from another person to set off the zakāt of his possessions, that zakāt will be paid at the time of collection of the receivable by the poor person.
Accordingly, concrete customer checks and bills can be endorsed and given to the poor to be regarded in place of zakāt. However, zakāt is deemed to be paid when this check or bill is cashed by the poor.
Zakāt of a property more than the niṣāb amount can be given to the poor before the passage of one year is up. However, zakāt cannot be given in advance for goods that have not reached the niṣāb amount yet. If zakāt is paid and then such a property reaches the niṣāb amount later, it will be subject to zakāt again after one year passes starting from the moment of reaching the niṣāb amount. The amount given earlier is accepted as voluntary charity.
According to Imam Malik, zakāt cannot be given before the end of the year. As the prayers cannot be performed before their time commences.
According to Imam Shafiʿi, zakāt can be given only for one year in advance.
According to the Ḥanafis, zakāt for several years can be given at once for the wealth that has reached the amount of niṣāb. As long as the niṣāb amount exists at the end of the year, their zakāt will be accepted as have been paid. If the amount of property decreases and falls below the amount of niṣāb, the previously given zakāt turns into a voluntary charity. For example, if a woman who has two hundred grams of gold subject to zakāt gives a bracelet weighing thirty grams to a poor person as zakāt, she will have paid zakāt for six years. However, if this woman becomes poor after the third year, the zakāt given in advance for the last three years turns into a voluntary charity.
If a person buys clothes or gives something to eat with the intention to be his zakāt to an orphan for whom he is responsible for only in terms of the kinship sustenance, but who is not from his descendants or ascendants, his zakāt will be accepted as paid. However, if he invites such an orphan to his table and wants the food they eat together to be regarded as his zakāt, although according to Abu Yusuf it is permissible, according to Abu Ḥanīfa and Imam Muhammad, it is not permissible. For, in this case, the requirement of the transfer of ownership (tamlik) will not be fulfilled.
Since it is obligatory to transfer the ownership of zakāt goods to a rightful recipient, giving food to the poor or spending money for a good cause cannot be deducted from zakāt. For example, masjids, roads, bridges, fountains, and schools cannot be built out of zakāt funds, shrouds of the dead cannot be bought and their debts cannot be paid with the money of zakāt. However, if the meal is served to the needy in a restaurant or if it is delivered in the form of a table d’hote, the transfer of ownership takes place.
If a poor person voluntarily spends the zakāt money that he receives on the above-mentioned types of charities such as building mosques, both that poor person and the person who has given him this zakāt will gain spiritual rewards.
In like manner, zakāt is not accepted as paid for by letting a poor person reside in his house to deduct it from the zakāt. For this is a way of transfer of ownership.[4] However, at the end of the month, a person may help his poor tenant financially with the intention of zakāt so that he can pay the rent.
[1] Al-Bukhari, Zakāt, 37.
[2] Al-Kāsānī, ibid, II, 25; Ibn al-Humām, ibid, I, 507; al-Maydanī, ibid, I, 147; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, II, 29.
[3] See al-Bukhari, Zakāt, 41, 63, Maghāzī, 60, Tawḥīd, 1; Muslim, Imān, 29, 31; Abū Dawūd, Zakāt, 5; al-Darimī, Zakāt, 9.
[4] See al-Kāsānī, ibid, II, 21; Ibn al-Humām, ibid, I, 527; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, II, 31; al-Shirbinī, ibid, I, 399; al-Shirazī, ibid, I, 161; Ibn Qudāmah, Mughnī, III, 33; Ibn Rushd (Averroes), ibid, I, 260 ff.; Bilmen ibid, Istanbul 1959, p. 467 ff.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications