In the case of fruits and vegetables that he sells, should he pay the zakaah of cash or the zakaah of trade goods?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The zakaah of crops and produce is not due on vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, melons and so on, which are not measured by volume and stored, according to the majority of scholars. Rather zakaah is due on the price of this produce when it is sold for cash, and the price reaches the nisaab (minimum threshold) by itself or when added to other cash, gold or silver, and one full year has passed since it was acquired. It must be paid at the rate of one quarter of one tenth (2.5%).

The nisaab is the equivalent of 595 grams of silver.

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (8/19): Vegetables are not subject to zakaah unless any of them has been sold for cash and one year has passed since the cash was acquired, whereupon zakaah must be paid on this cash if it reaches the nisaab by itself or when added to other cash. End quote.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Zakaah is not due on fruits, vegetables, melons and so on, because ‘Umar said: No zakaah is due on vegetables; and ‘Ali said: No zakaah is due on apples and the like. And because they do not come under the heading of grains. But if they are sold for cash, and one year passes since the cash was acquired, then that cash is subject to zakaah.

End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (20/299).

And he said (18/249): Vegetables of various types are not subject to zakaah even in large amounts, but if a person sells them, then their price is subject to zakaah if it remains in his possession until one full year has passed, and it is in the form of currency such as gold, silver or whatever is used in their place. End quote.

The point is that vegetables are subject to the zakaah on cash after they have actually been sold, and one year has passed since their sale.

But if the vegetables are kept in freezers and the like, with the intention of selling them, and after one year has passed they are still preserved, then they are subject to the zakaah on trade goods, so the value of the vegetables should be worked out when one year has passed, and one quarter of one tenth of the value must be given as zakâh, whether they have been sold or not.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard to melons and vegetables, they are not subject to zakaah. No zakaah is due on melons, pomegranates, apples and the like, because they are eaten straightaway and are not stored.

But if they are stored in freezers nowadays, with the intention of selling them, and he produces them for sale, and one full year has passed, then he must give zakâh on them if (their value) reaches the nisaab of gold and silver, because they are trade goods in that case, and come under the heading of trade goods.

It says in the hadith of Samurah narrated by Abu Dawood that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) instructed us to give zakaah on everything that we have prepared for sale.

So if various kinds of fruits, melons, pomegranates, apples, oranges and the like have been prepared for sale, and are preserved in freezers until one year has passed, and they are prepared for sale, then zakaah must be paid on them, according to their value.

If what has been prepared for sale is valued at one thousand riyals when one full year has passed, then zakaah must be paid on one thousand. If, when one full year has passed, its value is ten thousand, then zakaah must be paid on ten thousand, and so on, according to its value.

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (15/78).

Secondly:

It is stipulated that the total wealth should reach the nisaab, and no attention should be paid as to whether the share of each partner reaches a nisaab or not. This is the view of ash-Shaafa‘i (may Allah have mercy on him), as according to his view, the total value should be considered in the case of cattle and other goods.

On this basis, the Islamic Fiqh Council adopted this view with regard to zakaah on company shares.

See the answer to question no. 147855.

But if the wealth is distributed to the partners before one year has passed, then in that case each partner should look at what he has in his hand, and if it reaches the nisaab and one full year passes, then he should give zakaah on it, otherwise no zakaah is due on it.

And Allah knows best.