Zakaat

Q: My question is regarding children giving charity. From what I know, it is not permissible for them to give Sadaqah etc. from their own wealth. What about giving gifts from their own wealth? Also, what if they buy sweets with their own money, and then decide to to share them? How does it work?

I’m teaching, and the above topic came up. They were quite disappointed that they cannot give until they are baaligh, and it sounded like a lot of them had given before. They were asking if they got any reward for what they gave, or does it not count? Is it a sin? What must I tell them?

Q: My father passed away in June 2020, but his estate only got distributed in June 2021. Do I have to pay zakaat on the amount inherited from the date of his death or only from the time it was given to me? Part of the estate was a gold coin given to me in June 2021.

Q: If a person calculates his zakaat and keeps it separately in an envelope with the intention of discharging it but before discharging it, he passes away. Will this money form a part of the estate?

Q: If jewellery is of unknown metals (unknown carat for example), how do we pay zakaah on it if there is no indication of what it is? If it's gold in colour but unknown what it consists of.

Q: I want to know about donations. Can I change my mind in that case?

For example, if I thought to save some money for donation. Then I changed my mind and invested in my business and after a while I donated the exact amount, is it valid?

I am donating, but a few days later and its my halaal money. 

Q: We have 3 bank accounts from the same bank. One is personal, one is lillah and the other is Zakaat. We use these via the banking app on the phone.

1. Many times, we receive cash lillah donations for which there is no immediate use. Depositing those funds into the account will cost high deposit fees. Can we use that for personal use and then do internal transfer from our personal account to the lillah account? Or is it compulsory to deposit and pay the deposit fees? Who should incur that fee? Donors give any amount like R500 or R2000 or R3000 in cash for general or sometimes specific needs. The deposit fee will then be deducted according to the amount. Who must bear that fee. The internal transfer is primarily meant to save those costs.

2. All 3 accounts incur monthly interest. Withdrawing those interest funds is a cost. Even transferring them via eft is a cost though much less. Can we remove those interest amounts from cash on hand? Again, this is to save lillah and Zakaat funds.

3. When transferring Zakaat to a recipient via eft, there is a bank charge that comes off the Zakaat account. How should this be done or who should bear this cost?

Q: Can I give zakaat money to a girl/boy to make his nikaah?

Q: Before I got married, my parents used to pay my zakaat. They used to pay it in Ramadaan.

After I got married, for 3 years I never worked out my zakaat in Ramadaan and it got left till last year. On the 1st of Zul Hijjah, I went and got my jewellery weighed and sorted out my zakaat. Gold was at its highest that it has been in years that time so I paid that amount for all the years as the jeweller said that it will be higher than the other years that I never pay. Alhamdulillah I payed off everything last year. I wanted to know for this year, am I supposed to calculate my zakaat in Ramadaan or should I now calculate it on the 1st of Zul Hijjah?

I did not calculate it in Ramadaan this year as I thought I should value it that same day as I did last year.

Q: Can you please advise me on the following matter:

I am and have been using my Zakaat money to distribute monthly food hampers to poor and destitute Muslims. Many of my friends and family have observed this and have now given me their Zakaat / Sadaqah / Lillah, etc. obligations to discharge on their behalf.

With this in mind the number of recipients whom I distribute to (all of whom are Muslims) have also increased. This has become a very labour intensive exercise for me to accomplish on my own. I have thus secured assistance - some externally (also Muslims) and others from within the people who receive these hampers from me to sort, pack, get ready and distribute these hampers.

The following are my questions:

1) Can I pay these persons who assist me from the monies given to me especially in terms of the Zakaat and Sadaqah?

2) If yes, is there a percentage that I should consider to cover those expenses

3) If no, can I increase the hamper size of the “helpers” who are Zakaat recipients in lieu of payment for assisting me Can you please advise me on this matter?

Q: We purchased a property in the auction in June 2019 (after zakaat calc for that year). We paid the auctioneer 10% commission and 5% deposit. The deposit was transferred to the conveyancing attorney and we further paid the attorney fees and transfer duty (these monies were misappropriated by the attorney). The balance of the purchase price was paid to our attorneys and placed as guarantee to the favour of the seller to be paid on transfer of the property. The property transfer eventually did not materialise due to various issues. The deal was formally cancelled on 11 May 2021, after zakaat calculation for this year.

1. Is zakaat payable on theses monies for the 2020 and 2021 years as we have now received refunds of these monies from the auctioneers and our attorney.

2. Also, monies misappropriated. We are still trying to recover this. What would be the position of zakaat on this?