Q: In your fatwa copied below, please advise if the unmarried girl does not know about (or does not have true possession ) of the jewellery. Minor girls may know it is for them but they have practically no control on it.
Zakaat on gifted jewellery
Q: Many years ago, my maternal grandmother had kept an amount of gold jewellery in order to give it to me in my marriage. Later, my mother took it from her, telling her that she would keep it safely until the marriage. So the jewellery is with my mother. Now, since I am unmarried, I have not received it yet. My question is: Who is responsible for the payment of zakah for that particular gold jewellery?
A: If your grandmother gifted the jewellery to you and your mother took the jewellery on your behalf with your knowledge and consent, then it belongs to you and zakaat is compulsory upon you.
A: It is permissible for parents to accept on behalf of their minor children. Hence, if a minor girl's mother accepts jewellery on her behalf, she will become the owner of the jewellery, regardless of whether her mother informed her about it or not. After she becomes baaligh, zakaat will be compulsory upon the jewellery. If she did not have knowledge of her mother's accepting the jewellery for her, then at the time she comes to know, she will have to discharge the zakaat for every year from the time of puberty till the present year.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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