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Fatwa CenterShould a merchant pay Zakah for stocked commodities he could not sell?
Question
Is Zakaah obligatory upon commodities stocked for more than a year? I am a merchant of general trade materials. I took part with a person in trading spare parts for heavy equipment for machines. We bought the aforementioned materials for $220,000. After a year, the net profit for each of us was $500. That is to say that we could not sell except a very small amount of the commodities. By selling these small amounts, we paid the expenses of the shop including the rent as well as the wages of workers. How can I pay Zakaah for these materials?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
As long as you are trading in these items, they are considered trade commodities and you should pay Zakah for your share thereof every year. You should asses their value in the market and pay one-fortieth after deducting the rent of the shop and the wages of the workers because these are considered debts. The fact that the commodities are unsold does not release one from the obligation of paying Zakah. According to the opinion of the majority of scholars, Zakah should be paid for trade commodities even if they are unsold. If you cannot pay Zakah because you do not have sufficient liquid money, then the Zakah remains as a debt in your liability. Some jurists view that if the commodities are unsold, the Zakah is only obligatory upon that which is sold thereof.
The Fiqh encyclopedia states: “The opinion of the majority does not differentiate between unsold commodities and others. The Maaliki school has two opinions about this matter. The first: if the commodities are unsold, the merchant should include them in his calculations and pay Zakah on them every year if the conditions are met because this does not change their state to acquisitionor monopoly. This is their well known opinion and is adopted by Ibn Al-Qaasim 
. Ibn Naafi‘ and Suhnoon 
viewed that, if commodities are unsold, they enter the fold of a monopoly. Al-Lakhmi and Ibn Yunos specified the difference for the case when the unsold is less. However, if half the commodities or more were unsold, then one should not pay Zakah without a difference for them. This means that, if he sells the amount of the Nisaab, he should pay Zakah for it. Then, whenever he sells something, he should pay Zakah for it as mentioned above.”
We adopt the opinion of the majority which states that Zakah is obligatory even if the commodities are unsold. This is more prudent and safer in terms of clearing liability.
Allaah Knows best.
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