Question :

I have a married sister who has three daughters and two young men who are pursuing their university education. One of them is paying for his tuition and the other had received half a scholarship. My sister lives with her family in a house of their own, but they are indebted with (33000) JDs, so I have paid off that debt so that they could sell the house. A year passed and they couldn`t sell it, so they offered to give me half of it in return for the debt. The price of the house was estimated at seventy thousand JDs, so I agreed and the matter was officially documented. Nevertheless, I made them another proposition: If they sold the house, they would give me (33000) JDs. and the rest is theirs in case they sold it with more than the estimated price. The question that arises here is that: Should I pay the Zakaat on the (33000) JDs. and is it permissible to give my sister from that Zakaat ?

The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah. Blessings and peace be to upon Prophet Mohammad and upon his family and companions.

 It is incumbent upon you to pay the Zakkah on the debt sum (33000) JDs. for a lunar year, and that is the one in which the debt was due on your sister, but after she registered half the house for you, the lunar year was cut off, and so no Zakaat is due on it after that since the debt has become a property, and in this case it isn`t Zakatable.

Moreover, it is permissible for the brother to pay the Zakaat of his wealth to his poor sister who doesn`t receive sufficient provision from whomever is in charge of supporting her. In fact, the sister is more entitled to the Zakaat than anyone else for the Prophet (PBUH) said: “Charity towards a poor person is charity, and towards a relation is both charity and maintaining the ties (of kinship)" {Tirmidhi}. And Allah Knows Best.