Question: Could you please inform us about the rulings regarding zakat according to the other three madhhabs?
ANSWER
In the Hanafi Madhhab, the nisab of zakat is 96 grams, but it is 69 grams in the other three madhhabs.

In the Hanafi Madhhab, zakat is not given on the wealth of a child or an insane person. However, it must be given according to the other three madhhabs.

In the Shafi’i Madhhab, it is necessary to give zakat to at least three categories of zakat recipients. According to the other three madhhabs, it is enough to give it to a Muslim from a single category.

In the madhhabs of Hanafi and Hanbali, it is not necessary to give zakat as soon as it becomes fard on a person. In the Shafi’i and Maliki madhhabs, as soon as zakat becomes fard, it is fard to reserve and give it.

A person who gives his zakatable assets as a gift or who sells them before the passage of a complete lunar year in order not to give zakat is discharged from the obligation of zakat in the madhhabs of Hanafi and Shafi’i, but he is sinful for practicing deceit. However, he is not discharged from the obligation of zakat in the Maliki and Hanbali madhhabs.

It is permissible to donate as zakat one’s receivable to a poor debtor in the Maliki Madhhab, but it is not permissible in the other three madhhabs.

In the madhhabs of Shafi’i and Hanbali, it is not permissible to give zakat to a poor person who is healthy and can work, but it is permissible in the madhhabs of Hanafi and Maliki.

In the Maliki Madhhab, zakat cannot be given before a complete lunar year passes. However, it is permissible in the other three madhhabs.

Sending zakat to a different city is makruh in the Hanafi Madhhab, and it is in no way permissible in the other three madhhabs. If there are people more worthy of it in the city one sends zakat, then it is not makruh to send zakat to another city than one’s own.

In the Hanafi Madhhab, 'ushr must be given on vegetables, but it is not given in the other three madhhabs. In the Hanafi Madhhab, it is not permissible to give 'ushr on fruit without weighing them. In the other three madhhabs, it is permissible to calculate it based on one’s educated guess and then to give it. In the madhhabs of Shafi’i and Maliki, 'ushr on honey is not given, but it must be given in the madhhabs of Hanafi and Hanbali.

In the Hanafi Madhhab, jewelry of a woman is zakatable, but it is not in the other three madhhabs.

In the madhhabs of Maliki and Shafi’i, zakat is not paid on minerals except gold and silver. In the Hanafi and Hanbali madhhabs, zakat must be given on any mineral. In the Hanbali Madhhab, zakat must be paid even on things that are dug out of the ground, such as ithmid.

In the madhhabs of Hanafi and Hanbali, zakat for minerals is 20%, but it is 2.5% in the madhhabs of Shafi’i and Maliki.

In the Maliki Madhhab, it is permissible to give zakat to grandfathers and grandchildren, but it is not permissible in the other three madhhabs.

According to Imam-i A’zam and the Hanbali Madhhab, a woman is not permitted to give her zakat to her husband. According to the Shafi’i Madhhab and the Imamayn, she can give it to her husband. In the Maliki Madhhab, it is permissible to give zakat to her husband on condition that he will not spend it on the needs (nafaqa) of her wife.

Rulings about zakat

1. Zakat of commercial commodities must be given from commodities one buys and sells, or their equivalent in gold may be given, too.

2. To able to calculate and give the zakat of money easily, one must calculate one-fortieth of it first. Then one must calculate how much gold one can buy with it and give so much gold as zakat.

3. If one’s time of zakat is before one’s time of hajj, one must give zakat when it is due. Then one must go on hajj with the rest of the money. If one’s time of zakat is after one’s time of hajj, e.g., on Muharram, one must go on hajj first. When zakat is due, one must give zakat on the remainder.

4. Suppose that one’s zakat due date has come but one has not given zakat. Then one has become poor with no money. In this case, one’s debt of zakat is not forgiven if one has destroyed zakatable assets oneself. However, if they have gone to destruction by themselves, zakat is forgiven. That is, zakat is not forgiven if one spends them or destroys them. For example, if one loses them on the stock market or spends them all on goods, then zakat will not be forgiven. It must be paid. If one’s zakatable assets are stolen or lost or burnt to the ground or if one loans them but cannot get them back, then it is not necessary to give zakat.

5. If a poor Muslim asks for a loan of a gold coin and if a rich person gives it with the intention of zakat, zakat will be valid if one gifts it later.

6. In our religion, wealth on which zakat has been paid is not considered kanz (that which is hoarded up). It is not unlawful. No one has the right to take it by force. One who has given zakat has paid what is due on wealth. No one can take it. That which is in one’s possession cannot be used without one’s permission. (Durr-ul-Mukhtar)

7. While one’s agent is giving zakat or sadaqa al-fitr, he/she does not have to say the name of the donor. It is valid even if the agent says that it is his/her zakat or it is his/her gift, because the agent represents his/her muwakkil (principal).

8. A dressmaker can count as zakat the money he/she will receive in return for the shirt he made for a poor person. However, it is better for him to give zakat in gold. Similarly, a tinker can count as zakat the money he will receive from a poor person in return for tinkering pots. In the same way, a dentist can count as zakat the money he will receive from a poor person in return for making artificial teeth. The reason for this is that the donor has given commodities in this case, namely, the shirt, artificial teeth, and tin.

Question: I follow the Shafi’i Madhhab. I have fifty thousand Turkish liras, but at the same time I have debts of such an amount. Do I have to give zakat?
ANSWER
Yes, you have to give zakat on fifty thousand Turkish liras, because debts are not deducted in the Shafi’i Madhhab. However, in the Hanafi Madhhab, all debts are deducted from nisab, but debts are not deducted from nisab as for 'ushr, just as it is in the Shafi’i Madhhab. Even an indebted and poor person must give 'ushr on crops.

Question: When calculating zakat, should we deduct a year’s foodstuffs needed and pay zakat on the remainder?
ANSWER
If foodstuffs exist and have been reserved, it is not necessary to give zakat on them because it is written in Se’adet-i Ebediyye:

"Zakat is not given for what is reserved for use in a house from commercial commodities or for a year’s household needs reserved from commercial food. That is, all these are not included in the calculation of nisab. All the gold, silver, and paper kinds of money which one keeps in order to buy all those things or to buy the means of subsistence, such as food, drink, clothes and housing, are included in the calculation of nisab. That is, their zakat is to be paid."

If one has not bought foodstuffs for household needs, one cannot deduct the cost of a year's foodstuffs from zakat thinking that one will need them during a year.