Is zakat obligatory on land inherited by its owners 16 years ago, for which they had no intention of selling until this year, and its sale was delayed because one of the heirs was a minor, knowing that the sale took place one month after he reached the age of majority?

There is no zakat on this land, because the majority of jurists stipulate for the zakat on trade goods that a person must acquire them through his own action with the intention of trade. If he acquires them through inheritance, he has acquired them without his own action, so there is no zakat on him even if he intends trade.

Ibn Qudamah said: "A commodity does not become trade goods except with two conditions: first, that one acquires it through his own action... and second, that one intends at the time of acquiring it that it is for trade." If one acquires it through inheritance and intends it for trade, it does not become trade goods.

Another view, which Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen preferred, is that a commodity becomes trade goods by intention, even if one acquires it without his own action or without the intention of trade, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "Indeed, actions are by intentions."

Then Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen differentiated between one who sells land to earn a living and profit, in which case zakat is obligatory if a year has passed from his intention, and one who sells it because he no longer needs it or has no desire for it, in which case there is no zakat on it.

Accordingly, zakat is not obligatory on this land according to both views.