[Q 746] Zakat on Debts You Owe

Question

I have a question regarding Zakat.

For example, if someone purchases a car from a friend for £5,000 but doesn’t pay the full amount straight away, and the friend tells them to keep the money in their bank account until they need it, would that money still be subject to Zakat?

For instance, if the buyer has only paid £3,000 so far and is keeping it in their bank account until the friend asks for it, or if they have the full £5,000 but the friend has told them to hold onto it for now, does that money still count as the buyer’s wealth for Zakat purposes? Or is it considered the friend’s money because it is owed to them?

In other words, who is responsible for paying Zakat on that money while it remains in the buyer’s bank account — the buyer or the friend?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الجواب بعون الملك الوهاب اللهم هداية الحق والصواب

Answer

In the described situation, since the money has not yet been given into the friend’s possession, this money will be considered your property, and its profit and loss will be yours. For example, if the money is lost for any reason, it will be lost from your side, not the friend’s, and you are obligated to give that amount to your friend as a debt.

The Shar’i ruling concerning the payment of zakat is that zakat is not obligatory on the amount of money we have to pay someone (debt/qarz), even if the money is currently in our possession and is to be paid after some time. Therefore, when calculating zakat, you will deduct the amount you have to pay your friend from your total wealth. This means zakat payment will not be obligatory on that amount, even if it is present in your account. Thus, in this respect, zakat will not be obligatory upon you for this amount.

And regarding the money that we are to receive from someone (such as your friend) – if it, either alone or combined with other assets, reaches the nisab of zakat, then zakat payment also becomes obligatory on it. The better method for this is that even though this amount is yet to be received, when calculating other assets, it should also be included, and zakat should be paid.

Answered by: Mubashir Madani (AskMufti Scholar)
Verified by: Mufti Sajid Attari
Translated answer
Date: 1st November 2026