What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: I have made intention of Hajj for this year and have sent off my passport to the travel agent. But no paperwork has been done; I have only given my passport for the visa application. I am about to calculate my Zakāh, do I exclude the expenditures of Hajj, which are approximately £5200, and work out Zakāh on the remaining, or do I have to give Zakāh on the total amount of wealth. Also, if I have given the amount [for Hajj], so what is the ruling regarding this?
Questioner: Umar from England
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
If a whole year has passed upon one having ownership of the amount for the nisāb [i.e. threshold for Zakāh], then one will have to give Zakāh on the full amount; the expenditures for Hajj cannot be excluded. This is because, at this current moment in time, there has been no such contract with the travel agent in which one has had to pay the fee of the total amount for the Hajj package. Even in the case of having made payment beforehand, that amount will still be a debt with them and its Zakāh will be Fard upon you, because so long as you’re going, having got the visa, or by means of a final categorical contract, is not definite, then your amount of money with them will remain regarded as a debt. However, when your going has been confirmed as definite by means of a final categorical contract, now the amount deposited will leave your ownership and be regarded as the fee for the Hajj package, and [thus] there will be no Zakāh on that amount.
Just as it is mentioned in Fatāwā Ahle Sunnat, in the chapter of Zakāh, that as long as one’s name is not selected for definite, one’s money which is with the Hajj organizers is in the ruling of a debt. In such case, if a year has passed upon one having possessed the amount for the nisāb and the date for taking out Zakāh has come, then one will have to pay the Zakāh for this deposited amount.
[Fatāwā Ahle Sunnat, pg 170]
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Haider Ali
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0547] Do I pay Zakah on money I put aside for my Hajj expenses?
