Will one be eligible for zakaat if he owns properties over and above his needs?

Q: Please advise with regards to the following situation:

1. Yusuf is indebted for R1 million. Currently he has no means to pay the amount. He is working and earning a salary of R20000 pm. However this merely suffices for his monthly household expenses. He is therefore unable to pay anything towards the debts owed.

2. He owns a twenty five percent share in a property which is vacant. The value of his share is approximately R1 million.

3. He owns a share in a business wherein he is a sleeping partner. He is currently not earning any income from this business though there is expected capital growth. His share is worth approximately a million rands.

4. He has another freehold property which he lives in, worth approximately R2 million.

QUESTION: In light of the details above, is he eligible to RECEIVE zakaat? (Some persons are prepared to help him with zakaat so that he can settle his debts).

Oppressor seeking forgiveness

Q: In the light in these few ahadith, what is the method of the zaalim in order to be forgiven with Allah and also with the person he has abused? Can the mazlum person ask forgiveness from Allah and that the zaalim without asking forgiveness with Allah can be forgiven? If my question does not make sense where it is wrongly asked can you please tell me what is the attitude of an zaalim in order to no longer be mean?

1. "When the people see a zaalim and they do not stop him from doing wrong then soon Allah Ta’ala will punish them all” Imam Tirmidhi (rahimahullah) has recorded this narration on the authority of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr As Siddiq (radiyallahu ‘anhu) and has declared the Hadith authentic. (Sunan Tirmidhi, Hadith: 2168 and 3057)

2. Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation/honour or anything else should seek to be absolved by him before there will be neither dinar nor dirham. If he has right actions, they will be taken from him to balance the injustice he did, and if he does not have any good actions, the bad deeds of mazlum will be loaded onto him.” (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 2449).

3. Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reported that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “Do you know who is a bankrupt person?” They said: “A poor man among us is one who has neither Dirhams nor any goods.” Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “The pauper from my Ummah would be he who will come on the Day of Qiyamah with Salah, fasts and Zakah but he had hurled abuses upon someone, slandered others, unlawfully consumed the wealth of someone, shed the blood of another and struck others. So his good deeds will be credited to these people. If his good deeds get depleted before he can settle, then their sins will be flung onto him and he would be thrown in the Fire. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 2581)

Hadith on enjoining good and forbidding evil

Q: Can you explain what is the corroboration of the following narrations about Al Amr Bil Ma’ruf Wan Nahy ‘Anil Munkar.

 رأيت ليلة أسري بي رجالا تقرض شفاههم بمقاريض من نار فقلت يا جبريل من هؤلاء قال هؤلاء خطباء من أمتك يأمرون الناس بالبر وينسون أنفسهم وهم يتلون الكتاب أفلا يعقلون

1. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “On the night of Mi’raj I saw men whose lips were being cut with scissors made of fire. I asked Jibril, ‘Who are these people’? He replied, ‘These are the orators of your ummah who command people to do good but forget about their own selves whereas they read the Quran, Don’t they understand?'”

Imam Ahmad (rahimahullah) has recorded this Hadith on the authority of Sayyiduna Anas (radiyallahu ‘anhu). Imam Ibn Hibban (rahimahullah) has declared the Hadith authentic. (Musnad Ahmad, vol. 3 pg. 239/240, Sahih Ibn Hibban; Al Ihsan, Hadith: 53)

2.Sayyiduna Hudhayfah ibn Yaman (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “You should certainly enjoin good and forbid evil else Allah will swiftly send a punishment, then you will supplicate to him but your supplication will not be answered” (Sunan Tirmidhi, Hadith: 2169. Declared sound by Imam Tirmidhi)

3.Sayyiduna Abu Sa’id Al Khudri (radiyallahu ‘anhu) said, I heard Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) say: “Whomsoever sees an evil, let him change it with his hand, if he is unable to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue and if he is unable to do that, then with his heart and that is the weakest Iman” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 49).

4.It was once revealed to Nabi Yusha’ ibn Nun (‘alayhis salam) that a punishment would befall his people and destroy one hundred thousand of them. Sixty thousand of them were sinners, whereas the other forty thousand were outwardly pious people! [In astonishment] Nabi Yusha’ asked, “O Allah! What crime did the pious people commit?” Allah Ta’ala replied, “They associated and interacted with the evil people, ate and drank with them and did not express any anger for the wrongs taking place around them.”

Imam Abu Bakr ibn Abid Dunya (rahimahullah) has recorded this as the statement of Ibrahim ibn ‘Amr As San’ani. (Al ‘Uqubat, Hadith: 13, Al Amr Bil Ma’ruf Wan Nahy ‘Anil Munkar, Hadith: 71)

Imam Bayhaqi (rahimahullah) has recorded this narration as the statement of Wadin ibn ‘Ata, a Tab’ut Tabi’i. (Shu’abul Iman, Hadith: 8982)