What is the ruling on the Zakah of a rented house? A- If a rented house is rented out for profit, then there is no Zakah payable on the value of the house. The Zakah is only payable on the income that is generated from it if the hawl (passage of one Hijrah hear) is completed upon it from the time of the rental agreement. If the hawl has not been completed from the time of the rental agreement, then there is no Zakah payable upon it either. For example, if the person rented out the house for ten thousand riyals, of which he receives five thousand at the time of the agreement which he spends. Then he receives five thousand in the middle of the year, which he spends before the end of the year, there is no Zakah upon him in this case. This is because the hawl has not been completed upon this money. However, if he kept the house for sale and waited to receive the profit from it, but said: Since it has not been sold, I will rent it out,' then in that case, he must pay Zakah for the value of the house because he has kept it for sale; he did not want to keep it and profit from it. And everything which is intended for the purpose of trade and profit is liable for Zakah, according to the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him), “Deeds are according to intentions and every person shall have what he intended.” And Allah knows best. Q- What is the ruling concerning a person who passes the Miqat (the starting point) without assuming Ihram when he intends to perform Umrah? A- It is incumbent, if a person intends to perform Haj or Umrah and he reaches the starting point, not to pass by it without assuming Ihram there. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The people of Al-Madina should begin (their Ihram) from Dhul-Hulaifa.” So based upon this, it is an obligation upon a person who wishes to perform Haj or Umrah, when he reaches the starting point, to say the Talbiyah and assume Ihram, he must not pass by it. If he does so, he must return and assume Ihram from it; and if he returns to it and assumes Ihram, there is no penalty incumbent upon him. And if he assumes Ihram from where he comes and does not return, according to the scholars, he must pay a penalty, which is to slaughter a sheep and distribute its meat among the poor people of Makkah. And Allah knows best. Q- A man has daughters and he gave them jewelry, and all the jewelry combined amounted to the nisab, but the jewelry of each of them did not amount to the nisab. Is all of the jewelry to be taken together for calculation and Zakah paid on it? A- If he gave this jewelry as a loan, then the jewelry is his property, and he must total it all and if that reaches the nisab, he must pay Zakah. But if he gave his daughters this jewelry with the intention that it was their property, then it is not incumbent upon him to combine the jewelry he gave to each one of them with the jewelry of the other daughters, because each of them owns it independently of the other. Based upon this, if the jewelry of one amounts to the nisab, she must pay Zakah for it, and if it does not, then she does not have to. And Allah knows best. – Excerpted from Islamic Verdicts on the Pillars of Islam by Sheikh Muhammad Bin Salih Al-‘Uthaimeen, complied and arranged by Fahd Bin Nasir Ibrahim As
