5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

written in a fatwâ of Ebussu’ûd Efendi (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ
’aleyh) that in the time of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent
(rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh) the nisâb of silver was 840 aqchas,
which means that one aqcha was a silver coin of 0.24 dirhams,
i.e., eighty centigrams (0.8 gr.)]. Abdurrahman Şeref Bey says
in his book, Tarih-i Devlet-i Osmaniyye (History of the
Ottoman Empire) printed in 1309 [1892 A.D.], “During the era of
Süleyman the Magnificent, three aqchas were being minted out
of one silver dirham. After 1100 [1688 A.D.], the amount of
silver dwindled to a sixth. It was written on the Ottoman
Calendar dated 1308 [1891 A.D.] that one piece is three
aqchas and one aqcha equals three fulûs.”
The value of commercial property, that is, its purchase price
at the time of the calculation of the nisâb, is calculated either in
gold or in silver money, depending on the one as per which it
equals the amount of nisâb. If it equals the amount of nisâb in
accordance with either one of them, it is to be calculated with
the one that is more advantageous to the poor. It is not
calculated with gold or silver which is not used for money. The
value is calculated with the one that has the lowest value of the
kinds of gold and silver money monetized by the government.
The value is calculated anew according to the current prices on
the day when its zakât becomes fard according to the one with
which it has first been calculated, that is, when one year has
elapsed over the nisâb, and one-fortieth of the new value, that
is, of its price of purchase, or of the property itself, is given. At
places where gold and silver are now not used as money, other
metal coins and paper bills are equivalents to gold. The nisâb
for commercial property bought with such money or for paper
bills or for fitra or qurbân is, according to the Shaikhayn [Imâmi-a’zam
and Imâm-i-Abû Yûsuf (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ alaihimâ)],
calculated in the one that has the lowest value of the officially
marked gold coins. It cannot be calculated in silver. It is written
in Kashf-i-rumûz, “The value of a commodity is determined
with gold or silver”.
No matter how many they are, zakât is not given for houses,
apartment houses, mechanical implements, machines, lathes,
lorries, ships, or for things used in the house, when they are not
for trade, that is, for sale. Artisans, manufacturers, and
producers give zakât of raw material and of production. Zakât is
not given for fixed assets. Nor is it given for what is reserved for
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