Zakah on money during pending house purchase

Zakah on money during pending house purchase

By: Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi
Oxford
10/12/2025

Question:
Assalamualikum dear Shaykh, hope you and family are well.
I had a question that you can answer whenever you have some time.
If someone is about to purchase a house and the transaction takes about 3 months and during this time his zakat becomes due- does he need to pay zakat on the amount that he is due to pay for the new house although sale has been agreed as money hasn’t been transferred yet.

Answer:
Wa ‘alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

Zakah is an obligatory form of charity in Islam, due on wealth that a person fully owns and has had in their possession for a complete lunar year (hawl). The fundamental conditions for zakah to become due are that the wealth is fully owned, in the person’s possession, and has reached the nisab (the minimum threshold).

If someone has entered into an agreement to purchase a house, but the transaction has not yet been completed, meaning the money has not yet been transferred to the seller and the person does not yet legally own the property, the zakah is calculated on the wealth they actually possess at that time. The fact that a house has been agreed upon for purchase does not affect the zakah calculation on the money currently in the buyer’s possession.

If the date for zakah falls during the period when the transaction is still ongoing, the obligation is to pay zakah on the wealth that is still in your possession at that moment, not on money you intend to spend in the near future. Once the payment for the house has been completed and the money leaves your possession, zakah is no longer due on that amount, because zakah is only due on wealth that you currently own and control.
In essence, zakah is tied to possession and ownership, not merely to intention or agreements. Having a pending transaction or an outstanding commitment to pay does not exempt a person from paying zakah on money that remains in their possession when the zakah becomes due. Therefore, one must pay zakah as soon as the lunar year passes on the wealth they hold, regardless of upcoming payments or obligations that they may have.

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