Delay in paying zakaah because he is far away from his wealth
Question I have some money in a bank in my homeland, and one full year has passed and zakaah should be paid on it. The problem now is that my wife and I are the only ones who are entitled to withdraw money from the bank, and we are both travelling outside our country right…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
Zakaah should be paid immediately, and it is not permissible
to delay it unless one has a valid excuse.
Among the excuses that have been mentioned by the fuqaha’ is
when the money is not present and it is not possible to access it. This is
an excuse which makes it permissible to delay payment.
Based on this, there is no sin on you if you delay paying
zakaah until you are able to return to your country or you find other wealth
which you can pay to those who are entitled to it. You do not have to borrow
money in order to pay it.
Al-Mardaawi said in al-Insaaf (3/186): If he is unable
to pay it (i.e., zakaah) from the nisaab because the wealth is not present,
etc, then it is permissible to delay it until he is able to pay it. End
quote.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (9/398): It
is not permissible to delay paying zakaah after one year has been completed
except for a legitimate excuse, such as there being no poor people present
at the time when one year is completed, or not being able to get the money
to them because the money is not present, and so on. As for delaying it
until Ramadaan, that is not permissible unless it is only a short time away,
such as if the year is completed in the second half of Sha’baan, in which
case there is nothing wrong with delaying it until Ramadaan. End quote.
It is clear that zakaah is a serious obligation and it is
mentioned alongside prayer in the Book of Allaah. It is also a blessing that
brings about growth in one’s wealth, so it should not be neglected under any
circumstances.
And Allaah knows best.
