have an amount of 2,700 Jordanian dinars, which I have invested in a project, and I pay zakat on it every year. However, I have debts and obligations, and this project yields only a profit of about 2-4%. My salary is not enough to support myself and my family to the extent that I cannot pay the electricity bills. Is it permissible for me to take from the above Zakat?
You permitted to take from your Zakat since your income insufficient for you, because the poor is permitted to take from the Zakat in general, besides; the poor is identified of whose income doesn't suffice him. And Allah Knows Best.
Someone asked me to pay off his debt on his behalf as a loan, without any compensation. When I went to the creditor, he told me that if I paid the full amount at once, rather than in installments, he would give me a certain discount. Is this permissible? And if he applies the discount, to whom does the deducted amount belong?
If part of the debt is paid and the creditor forgives the remaining amount, the waiver is valid, and the remaining debt is no longer the responsibility of the original debtor. The person who paid the debt on behalf of another has no right to claim any portion of the original debt. And Allah Knows Best.
What is the amount of Zakah (obligatory charity) due on articles of merchandise?
The amount of Zakah due on articles of merchandise is (2.5%) of each article`s value after a whole lunar year had lapsed.
Does the deceased hear the supplications or recitations of those visiting his/her grave? And does making constant supplications for the deceased who didn`t adhere to performing the prescribed prayers ameliorate his/her affliction?
Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
In principle, the dead hear the living since it has been rigorously authenticated that the Prophet (PBUH) ordered the bodies of the idolaters slain in the Battle of Badr to be buried. He then approached them and called them one by one and said: "Have you found what your Lord promised to be true for we have found what our Lord promised us to be true." Umar asked him: "O messenger of God! Why do you speak to lifeless bodies?" The Prophet (PBUH) replied: "By the One Who has sent me with the truth! You do not hear my words better than they do except that they cannot respond." [Agreed upon].
However, not all the deceased are in the same situation because Allah The Almighty Knows: "Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up." [Al-Mu`minun/100]. Moreover, supplication reaches the deceased. And Allah Knows Best..
