He inherited some land then he put it up for sale – does he have to pay zakaah on it?
Question We have a piece of land that we sold one month ago. This land belonged to a number of heirs, one of whom was a minor and reached the age of 18 one month before the land was sold. We decided to sell it a year before that date, but the issue of the…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
There is no zakaah on this
land, because the majority of fuqaha’ are of the view that for zakaah to be
due on trade goods, a person must take possession of them with the intention
of trading them. If he acquires it by means of inheritance he has not taken
possession of it by means of his actions, so there is no zakaah on it even
if he intends to sell it.
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: Goods do not become trade goods unless two
conditions are met:
(i)That he takes possession of it
by means of his actions, such as buying, marriage, khula’, accepting a gift,
a bequest, booty, or earning of permissible things.
(ii)That he intends when taking
possession of it to sell it. If he does not intend when taking possession of
it to sell it, then it is not trade goods, even if he forms that intention
later on.
If he takes possession of
it by inheritance and intends to sell it, it does not become trade goods.
Similarly, if a settled person intends to travel, the rulings on travelling
do not begin to apply to him unless he takes action.
It was narrated from Ahmad
in another report that goods may become trade goods by virtue of intention,
because Samurah said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) commanded us to pay zakaah from that which we had
prepared to sell. Based on this, when a person forms the intention to sell
it, it becomes trade goods. End quote from al-Mughni, 2/336.
The former is the view of
the Hanbalis, Hanafis, Maalikis and Shaafa’is.
See: Badaa’i’
al-Sanaa’i’, 2/12; Sharh al-Kharashi ‘ala Khaleel, 2/195;
al-Majmoo’, 6/5; and al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fihqiyyah, 23/271.
With regard to the latter
view, which was also narrated from Ahmad, it was regarded as more correct by
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, but he differentiated between one who sells land in
order to earn money, make a profit and deal in it, and one who sells it
because he no longer has any need for it. In the former case zakaah is due,
but not in the latter.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may
Allaah have mercy on him) said: The second view concerning this issue is
that as soon as the intention to sell it for trade purposes is formed it
becomes trade goods, even if it came into his possession without him taking
any action, and even if he took possession of it without intending to trade
in it, because of the general meaning of the words of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Actions are but by intentions,
and each person will have but that which he intended…” This man intended to
deal in it, so he has to pay zakaah on it.
For example: if he buys a
car to use it for transportation, then he decided to make it capital for the
purpose of trade, then zakaah must be paid when one year has passed since he
formed that intention. But if he has a car that he is using, then he decides
to sell it, it is not trade goods, because he is not selling it for the sake
of doing trade, rather it is because he no longer wants it.
Another example is if he
has land that he bought to build on, then he decided to sell it and buy some
other land. His offering it for sale is not for the purpose of trade,
because the intention of selling in this case is not to earn money, rather
it is because he no longer wants it. There is a difference between two
people, one of whom makes it his capital for the purpose of trade and
another who decides he no longer wants or needs this thing, so he wants to
sell it. In the first case zakaah is due according to the correct opinion,
and in the second case no zakaah is due. End quote from al-Sharh
al-Mumti’ (2/626).
Conclusion: You do not have
to pay zakaah, according to both opinions.
And Allaah knows best.
