Fatwa ID: 09387
Answered by Muftiyah Maryam Badshah
Question:
As-salāmu ʿalaykum,
I hope this finds you well InshaAllah.
I’m really stressed out about the following situation, I’ve not been able to find the answers anywhere despite browsing countless websites, videos and being ignored by various Q&A boards. Would be immensely grateful if you could provide answers to the following:
I follow the Hanafi Madhab and I’m calculating years of missed zakat and am seeking clarity regarding disability benefits that were intended for me, but received and controlled by my father, as I did not have a bank account during childhood.
I was born with a disability and received government disability benefits. From birth to age 16, I was awarded Disability Living Allowance (DLA). According to the UK government website, DLA is intended for the disabled child, but the parent must apply on the child’s behalf, so my father applied for it. Although intended for me, the payments were made into my father’s bank account, and he had full control. I never accessed or received this money directly.
From a fiqh perspective, I’m unsure whether this money should be considered my wealth (since it was awarded due to my disability and intended for me) or my father’s wealth (since it was paid into his account and managed by him). Who was responsible for paying zakat on it?
If zakat was obligatory upon me, I am unsure of the exact date I reached puberty (I know the year but not the month). Can I pick any date within that year (e.g. 20th of Ramadan), assume I reached puberty on that date, assume I would’ve also exceeded the nisab as I technically would’ve owned that backlog of DLA payments, and set that date as my zakat anniversary? This would be devastating because rough calculations would mean by the time I hit puberty at age 13, on paper I “owned” £70k. DLA payments were minimum £5k a year so age 14 I pay zakat on £75k, age 15 £80k. DLA payments stopped at 16 so by that logic, I should’ve been paying zakat on that £80k every year for the rest of my life. This is money I’ve never ever owned, received or controlled. For all I know, my dad could’ve spent it all.
From age 16, DLA payments ended but I was awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP). As stated on the government website, PIP is intended for the disabled person, and the disabled person must apply, so I personally completed the application, attended the assessment centre, and explained why I needed the money. Again, although intended for me, the payments were made into my father’s account until I opened my own bank account at age 18, after which I gained control of the funds.
Assuming no zakat was due on DLA, was zakat on PIP obligatory from age 16 (when it was awarded and intended for me) or from age 18 (when I actually received and controlled the funds)? As with DLA, if I should’ve paid from age 16, that’s minimum £5k of funds I should be paying zakat on every year for the rest of my life despite never owning this sum, it all went to my Dad.
JazākAllāhu khayran.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
DLA (Disability Living Allowance), like child benefit, is a payment given to parents and carers to assist them in the care of a child. These payments are for the parents/carer and are not considered the child’s wealth. As your father was the one to receive it, the DLA would have been incorporated into his assets, from which he would need to give zakat once eligible. In other words, you would not be required to give zakat on the DLA your father received.[1]
On the other hand, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a payment intended to assist an individual (known as a claimant) in their own daily living and mobility after the age of 16. As these funds are meant to be received and used directly by the claimant, it would be considered the claimant’s wealth. However, a parent/carer may receive PIP on behalf of the claimant as an “appointee” when the eligible claimant cannot manage their own funds. In the case where your father received the PIP funds on your behalf, your father would have been considered the guardian (wali) of this wealth. He would only be permitted to spend the benefit received in your best interests, and he would not be permitted to incorporate these funds into his own wealth as it was not intended for his personal use. Once you became able to manage your own wealth, your father should have given whatever remained unused of these funds to you.[2]
After becoming baligh (mature) and after reaching the nisab threshold, a person is required to give zakah on 2.5% of their zakatable assets at the end of each year. Zakah is given on the remainder of the wealth at the end of each year, if the wealth is still above nisab. It should be noted that any asset which an individual does not have access to or is not in their possession is not zakatable until they obtain access to it. This is like unpaid mahr and inheritance, which is not zakatable until it is handed over and accessible to the true owner. If you were not free to access your PIP funds during the two years it was in your father’s possession, you would not be liable for zakat on it until it comes into your possession. As for what you currently have access to, assuming you had no zakatable assets of your own before receiving the PIP funds, you would only be liable to give zakat a year after these payments accumulated to above the nisab threshold and became accessible to you.[3]
If you did have access to the PIP funds in your father’s care, the unpaid zakat will still be due upon you for each of these missed years. You will need to look over your previous accounts and records, and calculate how much was due each nisab year and give this total amount in zakat as soon as possible. If this is impossible, a genuine estimation should be made for each year, giving more in zakat as a precautionary measure.
To summarise, you would not be required to give zakah on the DLA payments, and for the first two years of the PIP funds, if you did not have free access to this wealth, you would not be required to give zakah on this until you were able to take possession of the wealth.
Only Allah ﷻ knows best.
Written by Muftiyah Maryam Badshah
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
References:
[1]
https://www.gov.uk/disability-living-allowance-children/overview
[2]
https://www.gov.uk/pip
https://www.gov.uk/disability-living-allowance-children/when-your-child-turns-16
https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits
[3]
الْبَابُ الثَّالِثُ فِي زَكَاةِ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَالْعُرُوضِ) ، وَفِيهِ فَصْلَانِ (الْفَصْلُ الْأَوَّلُ فِي زَكَاةِ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ
تَجِبُ فِي كُلِّ مِائَتَيْ دِرْهَمٍ خَمْسَةُ دَرَاهِمَ، وَفِي كُلِّ عِشْرِينَ مِثْقَالِ ذَهَبٍ نِصْفُ مِثْقَالٍ مَضْرُوبًا كَانَ أَوْ لَمْ يَكُنْ مَصُوغًا أَوْ غَيْرَ مَصُوغٍ حُلِيًّا كَانَ لِلرِّجَالِ أَوْ لِلنِّسَاءِ تِبْرًا كَانَ أَوْ سَبِيكَةً…
Al-Fatāwa al-Hindiyyah (Vol.1, pg.178, Dār Al-Fiqr)
وَمِنْهَا الْعَقْلُ وَالْبُلُوغُ) فَلَيْسَ الزَّكَاةُ عَلَى صَبِيٍّ وَمَجْنُونٍ…
وَمِنْهَا كَوْنُ الْمَالِ نِصَابًا) فَلَا تَجِبُ فِي أَقَلَّ مِنْهُ …
وَمِنْهَا الْمِلْكُ التَّامُّ وَهُوَ مَا اجْتَمَعَ فِيهِ الْمِلْكُ وَالْيَدُ وَأَمَّا إذَا وُجِدَ الْمِلْكُ دُونَ الْيَدِ كَالصَّدَاقِ قَبْلَ الْقَبْضِ أَوْ وُجِدَ الْيَدُ دُونَ الْمِلْكِ كَمِلْكِ الْمُكَاتَبِ وَالْمَدْيُونِ لَا تَجِبُ فِيهِ الزَّكَاةُ…
Al-Fatāwa al-Hindiyyah (Vol.1, pg.172, Dār Al-Fiqr)
وَأَمَّا الدَّيْنُ الضَّعِيفُ فَهُوَ الَّذِي وَجَبَ لَهُ بَدَلًا عَنْ شَيْءٍ سَوَاءٌ وَجَبَ لَهُ بِغَيْرِ صُنْعِهِ كَالْمِيرَاثِ، أَوْ بِصُنْعِهِ كَمَا لِوَصِيَّةٍ، أَوْ وَجَبَ بَدَلًا عَمَّا لَيْسَ بِمَالٍ كَالْمَهْرِ، وَبَدَلِ الْخُلْعِ، وَالصُّلْحِ عَنْ الْقِصَاصِ، وَبَدَلِ الْكِتَابَةِ وَلَا زَكَاةَ فِيهِ مَا لَمْ يُقْبَضْ كُلُّهُ وَيَحُولُ عَلَيْهِ الْحَوْلُ بَعْدَ الْقَبْضِ
Badā’i’ Al-Ṣanā’i’ (Vol.2, pg.10, Dār Al-Kutub Al-’Ilmiyyah)