Zakat and Debts of the Father and Son

প্রশ্ন · Question

As Salaam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuhu our honourable
Sheikh, and warm greetings to you.
I have a question regarding Zakat and debts, I hope you have the time
to answer my questions.
My father has a lot of debt. Now it is customary with us that we do not
distinguish between the money or debts of the father and the son.
That means his debts are also mine automatically and we both work to
settle them. But how is this explained in Islamic law, especially from
the perspective of Zakat? Is the debt on my father only and he is freed
from the Zakat or do we both have to pay the debt?
Barkallahu feekum، May Allah protect you and warm greetings to you
from the Shabab (members) in Germany

উত্তর · Answer

Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuhu
1- The money of the father in terms of Shariah is not the money of
the son, and the father's debt is not the son's debt, so the Sharia made
the father in charge of his money and made the son in charge of his
money. Shariah put in the father's money rights and duties regardless
of the son's money. And it put duties in the son’s money regardless of
the father's money because each one of them has an independent
obligation. For example, the Shari'ah enjoins the father to pay Zakat on
his money when it reaches the Nisab and it passes a year regardless of

the money of his son. This is the same for the child. For example, the
son is allowed to earn money In return for an effort regardless of the
money of his father. Thus, each individual in Islam has a special
obligation according to the Islamic law.
2- From the evidences that the son's money is not the father's
money, and the father's money is separate to the money of the son:

A) The son does not inherit all the father's money but shares it with
others, Allah ﷻ said: وْلََدِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِ الُْْنْثَيَيْْ ِ
َ
يُوصِيكُمُ اللهُ) ف ِي أ Allah
instructs you concerning your children: for the male. What is equal to
the share of two females” [An-Nisa: 11]

And He ﷻ said: (َبَوَيْهِ لِكُلر وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ
وَلِْ (And for one’s
parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children”
[An-Nisa: 11]
Allah ﷻ gave others the right to share with the father the inheritance
of the son. Therefore, it is impossible that the money belongs to the
father during the life of his son and later some of it belongs to other
than the father. Allah says in the verse of inheritance: )َبَوَيْهِ لِكُلر وَاحِدٍ
وَلِْ
مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ (And for one’s parents, to each one of them is a sixth”
[An-Nisa: 11]. So, He ﷻ gave his mother a share of the son’s
inheritance after his death. Therefore, since the shari’a gave the
mother a share of the son’s inheritance, it is impossible that it
considers the son’s money a property of his father.
B) Before the inheritance is distributed, the father or the child may
recommend and carry out his will whether it pleases or does not
please the child or the father, and before that his debt must be repaid
before the inheritance is distributed, indicating that the deceased's
estate is his property and not the money of his father or child. Allah

Azza Wa Jal says: )وْ دَيْنٍ
َ
مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوضِي بِهَا أ (After any bequest he
[may have] made or debt” [An-Nisa: 11]
Hence, since it is obligatory to repay one’s debt before distributing his
inheritance, it is impossible to consider that one’s money is a property
of his/her father. In addition, since it is permitted for a Muslim to make
a will (wasiyah) before his death, it is impossible to consider his money
as a property of his/her father.
C) In the Hadith of sacrifice (Udhhiya) extracted by Ahmad in his
Musnad from Abdullah Bin Amr who said: a man came to the
Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: “ Teach me O Messenger Of Allah… by
the one who sent you with the truth, I shall never add anything to it ,
then he went back, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مِرْتُ بِيَوْمِ
ُ
يَّ بِهِ، فَجَاءَهُ، فَقَالَ لَهُ
فْلَحَ الرُّوَيْجِلُ
َ
فْلَحَ الرُّوَيْجِلُ، أ
َ
«
جِدْ إِلََّ مَنِيحَةَ ابْ
َ
يْتَ إِنْ لَمْ أ
َ
رَأ
َ
الَْْضْجَ، جَعَلَهُ اللَّهُ عِيدًا لِهَذِهِ الُْْمَّةِ ن ِي،
ظْفَارَكَ، وَتَقُصُّ شَارِبَكَ، وَتَحْلِقُ
َ
خُذُ مِنْ شَعْرِكَ، وَتُقَلِمُ أ
ْ
ي بِهَا؟ قَالَ
ضَجر
ُ
فَأ
َ
أ
ضْحِيَّتِكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ
ُ
عَانَتَكَ، فَذَلِكَ تَمَامُ أ
The man is successful, the man is successful” then he ﷺ said: bring
him to me, when the man came, he ﷺ said to him: “I was ordered (to
observe) the Day of Adha, Allah made it a festival (eid) for this
Ummah” the man said: If I find nothing but my son’s camel shall I
sacrifice it? He ﷺ said: "No, but cut from your hair, and cut your
fingernails, and cut off your mustache, and shave your private part,
this will complete your sacrifice to Allah." Abu Da'ud extracted
something similar and also in Sharh Maany Al Athar. Ad-Darqatny
extracted in His Sunnan in a narration: (The man said: If I find nothing
but my father’s camel or the sheep of my father and my family and
then slaughter it? He ﷺ said: ظْفَارَكَ وَقُصَّ شَارِبَكَ وَاحْلِقَ عَانَتَكَ
َ
«
ضْحِيَّتِكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ
ُ
فَذَلِكَ تَمَامُ أ No, but cut your fingernails, and cut your
mustache, and shave your private part, this will complete your
sacrifice to Allah."

And since it is not permissible for the father to sacrifice his son's
camel or the son to sacrifice the father’s camel, this means that the
father's money is not the money of the son.
D) In Mawahib Al -Galileel Fi Sharh Mukhtasar Khalil (2/505), written
by: Shams Ad-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bin Muhammad Bin Abdul
Rahman At-Tarabolsi Al-Maghribi, known as Hattab Al -Ru'ini Al-Maliki
(deceased: 954 AH):
“ (the ninth) If he has a debt then this is given priority to Hajj with no
dispute but he prioritizes Hajj over the debt of his father, whether we
say: Hajj immediately or at his pace, and whether the debt is deferred
or immediately. This is mentioned in At -Tiraz and the text is: ‘if he has
a debt and money, it is better to pay the debt than the Hajj, Malik said
this in Al Muwaziyah. He was told: ‘If his father had a debt, should he
pay that debt or go to Hajj.’ He said: ‘He should perform Hajj and this is
clear because Hajj is his debt, immediately or at his own pace, and the
debt of his father is not his obligation, not immediately or postponed.
To carry out an obligation overrides that which is not an obligation’”)
end of quote
3- Thus the hadeeth of (you and your money) is understood:
In Sharh Mushkil Al-Athar: (From Jabir Bin Abdullah that a man came to
the Prophet ﷺ and said: I have money and children, and my father has
money and children, and he wants to combine our money, so the
Prophet ﷺ said: َبِيكَ
نْتَ وَمَالُكَ لِْ
َ
« ... “You and your money belong to
your father”
I asked Bin Abi Imran about it, he said: the saying of the Messenger ﷺ
in this Hadith: َبِيكَ
نْتَ وَمَالُكَ لِْ
َ
« ... “You and your money belong to your
father” is like the saying of Abu Baker (may Allah be pleased with him)
to the Prophet ﷺBut my money and I are yours, O Messenger of
Allah." When the Messenger of Allah said, بِْي
َ
«
بَكْرٍ I benefited the most from money that of Abu Baker” It refers to

the Hadith of Abu Huraira that he said: the Prophet ﷺ said: «
بِْي بَكْرٍ
َ
مَالٌ قَطُّ مَا نَفَعَن ِي مَالُ أ I benefited the most from money that of
Abu Baker”
He said: Abu Baker, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "But my
money and I are yours, O Messenger of Allah, Abu Baker that he will
carry out all the orders and commands of the Prophet on him and his
money just as the owners of things are in full charge on what they
own. And this was the saying of the man who asked in the Hadith
above and it carries the same meaning, and Allah knows)
Also, it was extracted by Ibn Habban in his Sahih: ( from Ayesha (ra)
that a man came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who had a dispute with
his father about his father’s debt. The Messenger ﷺ said: «
لْبيكYou and your money belong ot your father” ). Abu Hatim said
the meaning is that the Messenger rebuked the man from treating his
father like a foreigner, and ordered him to show leniency and kindness
in both saying and action to until he gets his money, and he said to him
that he and his money belong to his father, not that the money of the
son owned by the father in his life without the son’s consent. Ibn
Raslan said: The Lam (letter) is for permissibility and not property, but
the money of the son is his property and he must pay its Zakat and it i s
inherited from him.)
4 - Therefore, you pay zakat on your money, and your father will pay
Zakat on his money if it reaches the nisaab and one year passes over it
if there is no debt on the money. If he pays the debt, he can pay Zakat
on the remaining money if it is more than the Nisab because the
stronger opinion we follow is that the debt frees a person from zakat if
all money is used up or was less than the Nisab. In our book "Funds in
the Khilafah State", when we talk about Zakat on debt page 150, the
following is stated :
(Whoever has wealth, which has reached the Nisab and a year has
passed over it, and has a debt which engrosses the Nisab or renders

the remaining wealth after repaying the debt less than the Nisab does
not pay any Zakat. For example, if one possesses 1,000 Dinars and
owes 1,000 Dinars, or if one possesses 40 gold Dinars and is indebted
by 30 gold Dinars, there is no Zakat upon him in these two cases as he
does not own the Nisab. From Nafi from ibn ‘Umar who said: The
Messenger of Allah said: «إذا كان لرجل ألف درهم، وعليه ألف درهم، فلا زكاة
عليه» “If a person has 1,000 Dirhams and is in debt of 1,000 Dirhams,
then there is no Zakat upon him.” Mentioned by Ibn Qudama in Al
Mughni.
When the wealth, after paying the debt, reaches the Nisab, then Zakat
is obligatory upon him due to what was narrated by As -Saib b. Yazid
who said: I heard Uthman b. Affan saying: “This is the month of your
Zakat. Whoever has a debt should pay it so that you give the Zakat on
your wealth.” In another narration, mentioned by Ibn Qudama in Al
Mughni: “Whoever has a debt should pay it off and pay Zakat on his
remaining wealth.” He said this in the presence of the Sahabah who
did not deny it; thus, this indicat ed their consensus (Ijma’a)). That was
the end of quote from the Book Funds in the Khilafah State.
Therefore, if the father of the questioner has money that reached the
nisaab and passed the year and has a debt, then he deducts the debt
from his money. If the debt takes all the money, or if some remains
from it that is less than the Nisab, he will be free from paying the
Zakat. If his money that remains is more than the Nisab, then he pays
Zakat on what remains of the money after deducting his debt.

As for the children of the debtor "the father", they are not obliged to
pay the debt as understood from the question, but it is a debt on their
father and it is his obligation not theirs. What they are doing is helping
their father to pay off his debt which is a matter of righteousness for
the parents (Bir Alwalidain) . A matter that Islam encourages

immensely, (وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا and to parents, good treatment” [Al-
Isra’: 23]
Al-Bukhari extracted

عنلْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ
َ
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْعُودٍ رَض ِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ: سَأ e ي
َ
قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، أ
يٌّ؟ قَالَ
َ
فْضَلُ؟ قَالَ
َ
العَمَلِ أ
يٌّ؟ قَالَ
َ
ثُمَّ أ » .
From Abdullah bin Masood may Allah be pleased with him: I asked
the Messenger of Allah ﷺO Messenger of Allah, which is the best
action? He said: "Praying on time", I said: Then what? He said: «Then
righteousness of the parents», I said: Then what? He said: Jihad for
the sake of Allah.”
Therefore, the children’s help to their father is a matter of
righteousness to the parents, but the children are responsible for the
Zakat on their money after they pay their debt. If their money reaches
the Nisab and passes the year, they must pay Zakat on their money. If
they pay off the debt of their father from their money before the year
passes, then they do not pay Zakat on that money because it was
removed from their money before the obligation of Zakat on it, and
they have to pay Zakat on the money that is left after paying off the
debt if the remaining money reaches the Nisab or above and a passes a
year.
Your brother,
Abu Yasin