How is the number of years for which my mother did not pay zakat on her money estimated, given that she instructed me to pay it after her death, but did not specify the number of years?
is payable on the gold left by the mother for one year only, because the default principle is the exoneration of one's liability from anything preceding that, as it is not obligatory to pay for more than one year because it is doubtful.
Al-Juwayni stated in "Ghiyath al-Umam": "Anything whose obligation is unclear, the default principle is the exoneration of one's liability regarding it."
Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam said in "Qawa'id al-Ahkam": "Whoever doubts whether something is obligatory upon him [such as purity, prayer, zakat, etc.], nothing of that is obligatory upon him, because the default principle is the exoneration of his liability."
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/192504
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 192504
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy