Zakaat on gold for previous years

Q: Kindly help by giving us the amount to be paid as Zakaat for the following jewellery (Kindly note that the owner never had any excess cash all these years, people would assist her financially; the jewellery was given to her as a gift in 1985, she now wishes to sell it in order to pay for the Zakaat of the past years). 21 crt bangles - 75.80 gr, 18 crt bangles - 66.90 gr, 18 crt broken gold - 116.50 gr. ( For my information I would like to know if the quantity/amount of gold will be reduced each year when calculating, as the lady never had any excess cash, and if she had to sell the jewellery to pay for the Zakaat then the quantity of gold on would decrease each year by 2.5 percent).

A: If she is going to be selling off the gold and thereafter paying for the outstanding zakaat she will deduct the 2.5 percent for each year. However, if she retains the gold and pays with excess cash then for each year she will still pay on the entire amount of gold that she owns.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

 

Answered by:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)