Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. I sell clothes and there is a charitable organization which collects clothes from people who trade in clothes for distribution to the poor before ‘Eid al-Fitr, so that the poor and their children may wear new clothes on ‘Eid like the rest of the people. Can the clothes that I give for this purpose be considered as the Zakat of my business?
حكم إخراج الزكاة من عين عروض التجارة
Answer
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions. Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As to what follows: In response to your question, we say: The Zakat of trade goods like clothes and other goods is compulsory on their value, and this is the view of the majority of the scholars. Therefore, you should pay the Zakat in cash. According to the majority of the scholars it does not suffice to pay Zakat from the goods themselves (rather, the Zakah should be paid in cash). According to the view of Abu Hanifah and one of the opinions from ash-Shafi’ it is permissible to pay Zakat from the trade goods themselves. In my view the preponderant opinion is that it is permissible to pay Zakat of trade goods from the goods themselves if there is benefit in that for the Zakat recipients and the needs of the poor can be covered by the goods. However, the principle is that Zakat is compulsory on the value of the trade goods. And Allah knows best. Dr. Khalid al-Muslih 25/09/1424 H
