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Fatwa CenterPaying Zakah on inventory in business
Question
I own a shoe store which I started 8 months ago, business is not doing good I cannot even make enough to cover my monthly expenses, I own all the inventory but I have no cash at all, usually I pay Zakaat every Ramadhaan and in previous business I was paying Zakaat on the inventory and the extra money I had in the bank but now all what I got is inventory which I can't sell or make money out of it, please how can I pay my Zakaat if business stay like this till next Ramadhaan.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
If a whole lunar year elapses on the tradable items that you possess or on the capital money with which you purchased it reaches the minimum amount liable for Zakat but you do not have money, and you are not able to sell enough goods to pay the Zakat, then Zakat remains as a debt on you and you have to pay it whenever you can. However, if you give goods equivalent to the Zakat that you have to pay (to the poor as Zakat), we hope that this will be sufficient, especially if there is a benefit for the poor in doing so; and one such benefit is hastening to give the right of the poor to them. According to the Hanafi and an old opinion of the Shaafi'ee school, the owner of tradable items is given the choice either to pay the Zakat from the same goods or from its value, so it is sufficient according to these schools, to pay the obliged Zakat from the goods. However, now the Shaafi'ee school, the Hanbali school, and the Maaliki school, hold the view that Zakat for tradable items must be paid based upon the value of these items in money, and it is not acceptable to pay it in the form of the goods itself.
Allaah knows best.
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