Zakat on the harvest

10-1-2005 | IslamWeb

Question:

When Allaah says in Qur'an 6:141 to pay the Zakaat the same day of Harvest, where does the one year maturity period come from and when ever we receive new Harvest (income) we have to pay the Zakaat only once then why most of the Scholars say that we have to repeat every year for what we have already paid for until we reach below the Nisaab level. Please explain and if possible give us reference from the Qur'an and Sunnah if there is.
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 is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

All the scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them do not necessitate a complete year for Zakat to be paid on crops but the majority of scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them necessitate the minimum amount liable for Zakat on crops, contrarily to Imaam Abu Haneefah who does not think that it is an obligation to reach the minimum amount liable for Zakat. Their evidence is the narration: "There is no charity on less than five Awsuq.(plural of Wasq: One Wasq is equal to sixty Saa' and one Saa' is equal to 2480 grams)." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Imaam Abu Haneefah may Allaah have mercy upon him bases his opinion on a rule which states that restrictions or specifications abrogate what has been instituted before and the Sunnah does not abrogate the Qur'an, that's why he did not apply the narration reported above.

In conclusion, we draw the attention of the questioner to the following matters:

Firstly, no scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them set a condition of a complete year on cultivations as previously stated.

Secondly, the scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them stated that the elapse of a complete year is necessary for Zakat on livestock, money and tradable items; Zakat have to be paid on these every year as it is subject to growth. The other evidence is the narration of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) narrated by 'Aa'ishah may Allaah be pleased with her as he said: "There is no Zakat on wealth unless a complete year elapses on it. As regards grains and fruits, Zakat is obligatory on them only once even if their owner stocks it for ten years as long as he did not buy it to trade with it, as in this case it is a tradable item."     

Allaah knows best.

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