- Conditions when Zakah would become necessary

1) There are a few conditions when Zakah would become necessary.

1. To be a Muslim
2. To be an adult
3. To be sane
4. To be free (i.e. not a slave)
5. To be the owner of goods above Nisaab (threshold - where Zakah would become necessary)
6. To be a complete owner of the goods
7. To be free from any sort of loan
8. To be free from any goods which are regarded as basic necessities of living
9. The good have a value which will increase
10. For a year to pass

2) Zakah is not necessary for an infidel. If an infidel became a Muslim then he would not be ordered to pay Zakah for goods from previous years when he was not a Muslim [All books].

3) Zakah is not necessary for a child [Hidaya etc.].

4) Zakah is not necessary for a person who has been insane for a full year. If a person is sane at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year but was insane in the middle of then Zakah is still necessary. If a person is insane from birth and then after reaching adulthood he gains sanity then Zakah will become necessary from that year and not from the previous years [Johra, Alamgiri, Radd-ul-Mohtar, Bahar].

5) Zakah is not necessary for possession of goods which are below the fixed threshold of Shariat, meaning if a person had goods but were less than the threshold of Nisaab then Zakah is not necessary for them.

6) You must have complete ownership of the goods, meaning if you had possession but was not an owner then Zakah is not necessary.

7) If goods are lost or have fallen in the sea or someone has robbed him and he has no witnesses for the robbery or have been buried in a field and you are not aware of where you have buried it or you gave some goods to a stranger for safe-keeping and then that person took off with them or you lent some money to someone and he refuses to pay the debt back and you have no witnesses and then after a period of time you got your goods or money back, then Zakah is not necessary for the time the goods were not in your possession [Durr-e-Mukhtar, Radd-ul-Mohtar].

If you have loaned some goods to a person who says he will pay back but is delaying it or has become bankrupt or a Qazi has ordered that he is poor or is refusing to pay back and he has witnesses and then when you recover the goods back, then Zakah is also necessary for the time when it was not in your possession [Tanwir, Bahar].

8) If oney or goods have been given as a deposit or guarantee, then Zakah is not necessary on the person giving the deposit or the person keeping the deposit nor is it necessary for the years that it was held when the deposit has been given back [Durr-e-Mukhtar, Bahar etc.].

9) If a person has enough goods above the threshold of Nisaab but he owes so much that by paying the debt off he would go below the threshold of Nisaab then Zakah is not necessary on them whether the debt is of a worldly nature (such as a loan or repayment for lost goods or payment) or if it is of a religious nature (such as previous Zakahs), for example, if a person has been above the threshold of Zakah for only one year and he has not given Zakah for two years then only the first year's Zakah is necessary not for the second year, because after giving the first year's Zakah from his goods the goods then fall below the threshold therefore the second year's Zakah is not necessary [Alamgiri, Radd-ul-Mohtar].