He sold a share portfolio to be paid for in a year-and-a-half’s time; does he have to give zakah on it?

Question: 114847

I had a share portfolio and someone bought it from me to be paid later, on condition that he give me its value with added value one and a half years after buying it from me. How should I give zakah on it? Should I give zakah on its original price when it was bought, or the value that the buyer will give me in one and a half years’ time? Please note that he has already sold the contents of the portfolio and is buying and selling shares.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

If you sold the share portfolio to be paid for later on, this price is a debt that is owed by the buyer, and comes under the rulings of zakah on debts.

It is well known that if someone is owed a debt by someone else, then zakah on it is subject to the following considerations:

If the debt is owed by one who is well-off and willing to pay, and he acknowledges the debt and has the ability to pay it, then zakah must be paid on the debt when one year has passed, as if the money was in your possession.

But if the debt is owed by someone who is delaying payment or denying the debt, you do not have to pay zakah on it until you receive it and one full year has passed since you received it.

Please see the answer to question no. 106434 .

Thus you will realise that zakah is to be paid on the price that you will receive, and not the original value of the portfolio, because this price has become a debt that is owed to you, so you should give zakah on the debt as noted above, whether the buyer has sold the contents of the portfolio or not.

And Allah knows best.

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