Q: I have two questions I need to ask. I was talking to my husband yesterday about Qurbaani and we had a disagreement. He told me that Qurbaani is not farz, and my belief is that Qurbani is fardh if you are working and have a steady income. Can you please clarify that for me. Also another question is about zakaat. My husband told me that we already give zakaat in the form of tax, so we don't have to give it anymore, but my questions is about the savings and all the saving plans that we have and the money that lies there, isn't it farz to give zakat on that? Please let me know. I would appreciate it very much.
A:
1. Qurbaani is compulsory (waajib) upon every baaligh and sane Muslim who is not a musaafir and who possesses wealth which equals the nisaab amount of zakaat during the days of Qurbaani (i.e. he possess the nisaab amount of zakaat or more after deducting all liabilities and debts and after excluding all necessary items of use e.g. house, car, cutlery, clothing, etc). The days of Qurbaani are the 10th, 11th and 12th of Zil Hijjah.
2. The tax one pays to the government is not zakaat and will not absolve one from the obligation of zakaat if zakaat is compulsory upon him.
The principle of zakaat is that the first day a baaligh and sane Muslim acquires wealth (upon which zakaat is compulsory) which equals the nisaab of zakaat (i.e. after deducting all liabilities and debts, the wealth reaches nisaab or more than the nisaab amount) and the wealth remains with him for an entire lunar year (even though it increased or decreased during the course of the year provided it is not used up completely), then on the same lunar date of the following year zakaat will be waajib on that wealth on condition it equals the nisaab of zakaat. One will have to pay 2.5 % of the wealth in zakaat.
For further details regarding which wealth one has to pay zakaat upon, refer to http://muftionline.co.za/node/29 and http://muftionline.co.za/node/31
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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