O Son !

gold liras advertised in news papers. Supposing the Hamîd gold
coin is the one with the lowest price and the price of a Hamîd gold
coin is fifteen hundred (1500) Turkish liras; the nisâb of paper bills
as of that day is 13.3x1500=19950 Turkish liras; the zakât of forty
thousand Turkish liras will have to be paid in gold. The value of
that zakât is one thousand Turkish liras. The poor will be paid the
value of one thousand Turkish liras in gold, i.e. a half gold coin
plus and a quarter gold coin or approximately a five-gram piece of
gold or gold articles, such as bracelets and rings, with equal weight.
An excerpt from the Ramadân 1393 A.H. [1973 A.D.] issue of
the monthly periodical entitled Hedy-ul-islâmî and published by
the scientific committee under the aegis of the directorate of
Awqâf in the former Libyan government, and undersigned by
Shaikh Mîlâd Jelâsî, reads as follows: “It is necessary to pay zakât
for the paper bills called paper currency, too. Nisâb of the paper
currency is calculated in gold equivalent to the gold coins printed
by the government of the place where the person to pay zakât
lives. It is not calculated in silver. Nisâb of paper currency is
calculated only in gold. For, paper currency evaluated in return for
gold.” The process of printing the five-volumed book entitled
Kitâb-ul-fiqh ’ala-l-madhâhib-il-erbe’a and prepared and written
as a masterpiece inclusive of the scientific contents of all four
Madhhabs by a committee of Islamic scholars supervised by
Shaikh ’Abd-ur-Rahmân Jezîrî, one of the Islamic scholars in
Egypt, was accomplished in 1392 [1972 A.D.]. It has been
reproduced by offset process by Hakîkat Kitâbevi in Istanbul. The
book enlarges on the fact that paper bills are promissory notes in
return for gold.
In short, a person possessed of paper currency at least equal to
thirteen plus one-third gold coins with the lowest value among the
gold lira coins marketed by the government, and who has had the
same (or more) amount throughout a year, has to pay gold equal
to one-fortieth the entire currency in their possession as the zakât
of the currency. [The amount of the gold equivalent of the paper
currency varies with time, depending on the stock exchange
quotation.] For, zakât is a debt owed to the poor. All sorts of debts
are paid from property of zakât. The debt of zakât will have been
paid when the ’ayn property itself has been delivered to the poor
or to their deputy. It will not have been paid if it is given in paper
currency, nor will such a payment be acceptable (as zakât). Former
payments of zakât done in paper currency will have to be made
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