What Is the Ruling on Giving Zakat Before Its Due Time?


Shafi'i Fiqh

Answered by Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Abu Bakr Badhib

Question

What is the ruling on giving zakat before its due time?

Answer

In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, his Family, his Companions, and those who follow him.

Zakat becomes obligatory for anyone who owns the nisab (minimum threshold) with full ownership, provided that the well-known conditions for zakat are met for each type of wealth, especially zakat on money (zakat al-naqdayn), which is one of the most common types of zakat.

The obligation to pay zakat on wealth arises after the completion of one lunar year (hawl), starting from the moment the nisab is reached. For example, if someone’s wealth reaches the nisab in the month of Rajab this year, they will be required to pay zakat in Rajab of the following year, and so on.

Paying Zakat Early

Some people may prefer to pay zakat in advance before its due time. The Shafi‘i School permits this, under the condition that the wealth has already reached the nisab. However, paying zakat before reaching the nisab does not count as zakat. This is analogous to paying the price of an item before purchasing it, which does not exempt the buyer from paying the price after the purchase.

However, if the nisab is reached and zakat is paid before the completion of the year, it is valid, and the paid amount will be considered zakat for that wealth. In this case, the individual will not need to pay zakat again after the year is completed on that wealth. [al-Fiqh al-Manhaji]

The evidence for this is that ‘Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) for permission to pay his zakat in advance before it became due, and the Prophet granted him that permission. [Abu Dawud; Tirmidhi; Ibn Maja]

And Allah is the source of success and guidance to the straight path.

[Shaykh] Dr. Muhammad Abu Bakr Badhib

Shaykh Dr Muhammad Abu Bakr Badhib is a prominent Islamic scholar from Yemen born in Shibam, Hadhramaut, in 1976. He received his degree in Shari‘a from Al-Ahqaf University, a master’s degree from the Islamic University of Beirut, and a PhD in Usul al-Din from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

He studied under great scholars such as Shaykh al-Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad, Shaykh Fadl Ba‘ fadl, Habib Salim al-Shatiri, Habib Ali Mashhur bin Hafeez, and others. He has served as the Director of Publications at Dar al-Fiqh, the former Deputy Director of Cultural Relations at Al-Ahqaf University, a former Assistant for Employee Affairs at Atiyah Iron Company, a researcher at the Sunna Center affiliated with the Dallah al-Baraka Foundation, and a researcher at Al-Furqan Foundation’s Makka al-Mukarrama and Madina al-Munawwara Encyclopedia branch.

Currently, he is a researcher at Al-Furqan Foundation’s Makka al-Mukarrama and Madina al-Munawwara Encyclopedia branch, teaches traditionally through the Ijaza system at Dar al-Fuqaha in Turkey, supervises the Arabic department at Nur al-Huda International Institute (SeekersGuidance), and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Manuscript House in Istanbul.

His works include “The Efforts of Hadhramaut Jurists in Serving the Shafi‘i School,” “Contributions of Hadhramaut Scholars in Spreading Islam and its Sciences in India,” “Hada’iq al-Na‘im in Shafi‘i Fiqh,” in addition to verifying several books in Fiqh, history, the art of biographies, and Asanid (chains of narration).