Islams Reformers

The zakât of paper money is paid not out of their own value but
out of the values written on them, for their own value is very little
and it cannot reach the border of richness. As already written
above, the values on them indicate the property which is dain.
Since the zakât of dain cannot be paid as dain, the zakât of paper
money cannot be paid in paper money. It is necessary to pay it in
’ain, that is, to get the dain property into your hands and then hand
it to the poor person. Moreover, any kind of debt must be paid
from the property of zakât first. While there is property of zakât,
that is, gold and silver or commercial goods, it is not permissible to
pay the debt by giving other property, for example, rugs and pearls
that are used in the house and whose zakât is not to be paid. The
zakât of paper money, too, is a debt which one owes to the poor.
One has to pay this debt from the property of zakât. Gold is the
property of zakât of the person who is not a tradesman but who is
rich only by possessing paper money, because paper money is the
equivalent of gold. They are not the equivalent of silver. If a
person has various kinds of property of zakât such as gold, silver,
commercial goods and zakât animals, he has to pay his debt from
gold and silver first. [1] The goods a person who is not a merchant
buys are not his commercial goods. It is not permissible for him to
buy something other than gold to pay the poor as zakât, for the
goods that are not commercial for him cannot be paid as zakât. He
has to buy gold and pay it.
In order to give the zakât of commercial goods, their buying
price must be as much as the amount of nisâb in gold or silver
money, and one-fortieth of the goods themselves or of their value
will be given. Ash-Sharnblâlî says in the explanation of d-Durar,
“If the metal coins called flûs are current, or if they are
commercial goods, it is wâjib to pay the zakât out of their value.”
It is declared in a hadîth quoted in Hidâya, “Calculating the value,
five dirham of silver will be paid for two hundred dirham.” As it
is seen, for the zakât of flûs and paper money, not they themselves
but as much gold as their value must be paid. Those who are not
merchants should pay the zakât of their paper money only in gold.
Merchants may pay the zakât of their paper money either in gold
or from the goods which they sell, but they cannot pay it from
other goods. [2]
A person might come forth and say:
[1] ad-Durr al-mukhtâr, and Radd al-muhtâr, p. 8.
[2] For detailed information on zakât, see Endless Bliss, V, 1.
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