Zakah on Salary
Question:
Assalam o Alikum brother,
As an employee, my salary is considered to be prduct and have to pay 10 percent zakat on my entire salary according to islamic sharia. But at the same time I am also paying around 20 percent taxes imposed by the govt. Do I still need to pay zakat in addition to taxes? Or it is covered in the taxes? I am not talking about savings but earnings (salary).
Almost all of today's schollars think that tax can not be replacement of zakat although their arguements are not convincing to me. They also think zakat can not be given to a non-muslim, but I do not find any proof of that from Quran or sunnah.
What about the taxes taken by a non-muslim govt. if one is living there? Will taxes be counted as zaka? I thank you in advance for your opinion.
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
First allow me to make a correction in your question. You wrote: “have to pay 10 percent zakat on my entire salary according to Islamic sharia” Please note that according to Shari’ah you need to pay Zakah on what you earn, however as to what exactly you need to pay (10% or less or more) this is a matter of Ijtihad not Shari’ah. On this matter you seem to be following the view of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, so I am going to answer you on the basis of his views on Zakah:
Zakah is Islamic tax. Therefore if you pay tax to the government you are already paying at least part of your Zakah. You need to calculate your total Zakah and then compare it with the total tax you are paying. Only if your total due Zakah is more than the total tax you are paying then you need to top it up with the balance.
As for your other inquiries:
- In my understating being in a Muslim or non-Muslim country (i.e. paying the tax to a Muslim or non-Muslim state) does not make any difference in the above.
- I agree with you that based on the Qu’an we are not limited to give Zakah only to Muslims.
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August 2013
Revised: July 2016
Assalam o Alikum brother,
As an employee, my salary is considered to be prduct and have to pay 10 percent zakat on my entire salary according to islamic sharia. But at the same time I am also paying around 20 percent taxes imposed by the govt. Do I still need to pay zakat in addition to taxes? Or it is covered in the taxes? I am not talking about savings but earnings (salary).
Almost all of today's schollars think that tax can not be replacement of zakat although their arguements are not convincing to me. They also think zakat can not be given to a non-muslim, but I do not find any proof of that from Quran or sunnah.
What about the taxes taken by a non-muslim govt. if one is living there? Will taxes be counted as zaka? I thank you in advance for your opinion.
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
First allow me to make a correction in your question. You wrote: “have to pay 10 percent zakat on my entire salary according to Islamic sharia” Please note that according to Shari’ah you need to pay Zakah on what you earn, however as to what exactly you need to pay (10% or less or more) this is a matter of Ijtihad not Shari’ah. On this matter you seem to be following the view of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, so I am going to answer you on the basis of his views on Zakah:
Zakah is Islamic tax. Therefore if you pay tax to the government you are already paying at least part of your Zakah. You need to calculate your total Zakah and then compare it with the total tax you are paying. Only if your total due Zakah is more than the total tax you are paying then you need to top it up with the balance.
As for your other inquiries:
- In my understating being in a Muslim or non-Muslim country (i.e. paying the tax to a Muslim or non-Muslim state) does not make any difference in the above.
- I agree with you that based on the Qu’an we are not limited to give Zakah only to Muslims.
-------------
August 2013
Revised: July 2016
