Question :
The expenses of a certain charitable association are about 70.000 JDs per year. Its main source of income are the donations of the good doers. This association has 160.000 in its depository account and 30.000 in its current account. Are these amounts liable for Zakah although, according to the association`s director, they belong to the association and not the orphans it cares for?
The Answer :
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
Based on the opinion of the scholars who permitted endowing money, the above funds are endowed to the benefit of the orphans. The association uses them to spend on the orphans who are a public body, and the money endowed to the benefit of such party isn`t liable for Zakah, because it doesn`t have a specific owner. Imam Zakaria Al-Ansari said: "No Zakah is due on the profits made from investing a mosque`s endowment nor on those made from endowments made in favor of a public party, such as the poor and needy, because these endowments/funds don`t have a specific owner." [Asna Al-Matalib, vol.1/pp..369].
It is stated in [Nehayat Al-Mohtajj, vol3/pp.127]: "The condition that makes Zakah obligatory is that there is a specific owner for the wealth liable for Zakah, of course after reaching Nisab (Minimum amount liable for Zakah) and one full lunar year elapses over possessing it." Moreover, Zakah is due on what is endowed for the benefit of a public party while it isn`t due on what is endowed for the benefit of a specific party." And Allah the Almighty Knows Best.
