Zakat Urud al-Tijara wa al-Ashum wa al-Sanadat
- Author died
- 1440 AH
- Editions
- Safir Press
Zakat Urud al-Tijara wa al-Ashum wa al-Sanadat (Zakat on Commercial Merchandise, Shares, and Bonds) is a legal treatise by Saeed bin Ali bin Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE) outlining the rulings, conditions, and calculation of zakat on trade goods and modern financial instruments in Islamic jurisprudence .
Composition and Context
The author completed the work on the eve of Monday, 23 Rabi' al-Awwal 1426 AH, in Riyadh . Bearing the full descriptive subtitle Mafhum, wa Shurut, wa Furuq, wa Anwa', wa Ahkam fi Daw' al-Kitab wa al-Sunna (Concept, Conditions, Distinctions, Types, and Rulings in the Light of the Book and the Sunna), it was issued as a standalone booklet within his series Rasa'il Saeed bin Ali bin Wahf al-Qahtani and incorporated as the eleventh chapter of his comprehensive legal compendium al-Zakah fi al-Islam fi Daw' al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah . In weighing legal opinions, al-Qahtani drew extensively upon the juristic preferences and rulings of his teacher, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah Ibn Baz .
Contents and Legal Rulings
The treatise provides a systematic examination of commercial zakat and modern securities:
- Commercial Merchandise ('urud al-tijara): The work defines commercial goods linguistically and jurisprudentially, presenting proofs for the obligation of zakat from general Quranic passages, the prophetic Sunnah, scholarly consensus (ijma'), traditions of the Companions, legal analogy (qiyas), and the statements of classical and modern scholars .
- Conditions and Assessment Rules: It details the conditions required for zakat to become obligatory, establishing that the annual cycle (hawl) for accrued commercial profits follows the hawl of the underlying principal capital . It demonstrates how commercial goods are combined with gold and silver to complete the minimum zakat threshold (nisab), how inventory must be evaluated at the end of the year, and that commercial tools and equipment intended for operational use rather than sale are exempt from zakat . The treatise specifies the exact zakat rate due on trade merchandise as one-quarter of a tenth (2.5 percent) .
- Shares and Bonds: The treatise covers the legal status of contemporary corporate equities (ashum) and bonds (sanadat), explaining their methods of zakat calculation alongside the classification of permissible and impermissible financial instruments .
- Beneficiaries: It concludes with a delineation of the rightful recipients of zakat (ahl al-zakah) and the categories of individuals to whom paying zakat is prohibited .
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