I have 5 or 6 watches that have been given to me as gifts by various people over the last few y

Question:
I have 5 or 6 watches that have been given to me as gifts by various
people over the last few years, thetotal value of which comes to about
�3000. Do I have to pay zakat on these watches?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
The detailed rulings of zakat have been mentioned numerous times on
the SunniPath website.
Based on those rulings, there will be no zakat on the watches given to
you as gifts, unless they are gold/silver watches. In that case, the
value of the gold/silver will have to be appraised and zakat will be
payable on the appraised [weight] value.
Verily, Allah knows best.

How Does A Wife Who Has No Source Of Income Pay Zakat On Her Jewelry?

Question:
How does a wife who has no source of income pay Zakat on her jewelry?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
If an individual possesses in his/her ownership wealth in the form of
gold,silver, cash, merchandise, or livestock to the value ofthe
Zakat-payable amount(nisab), then Zakat will be obligatory upon them.
In the Hanafi School, one is also obliged to pay Zakat on gold and
silver jewellery even if the jewellery is for personal use. (See: the
various Fiqh references)
Thus, if a woman has in her ownership gold or silver the value of
which reaches the appointed Nisab amount, then she will be required to
pay Zakat. If she has money in the form of cash, she may pay the Zakat
from it; otherwise, she will have tosell some part of the jewellery in
order to pay the Zakat. She may even give an item from the jewellery
itself as Zakat to the poor and needy.
However, it is suggested that if she has no other savings, her husband
or father pay Zakat on her behalf with her permission. It will be as
though her husband or father is giving her some money as gift, and she
is utilizing that money to pay off her Zakat. If that is not possible,
she will have no alternative but to sell some part of the gold and
silver jewellery in order to fulfil her responsibility.
The same ruling would apply with ritual slaughter(udhiyya), in that if
one does not possess cash, onewill have to sell some part of the
wealth in order to fulfil this duty. Udhiyya becomes Wajib when one
has wealth (in any form) inexcess of one�s personal needs to the
amount of Nisab. Thus, even a male who has no cash on hand would be
required to sell some items and perform Udhiyya.
And Allah knows best

Zakat On Deposits

Question:
Is the deposit one pays when renting out a house liable for zakat? In
the UK landlords are known for stealing deposits, so it is highly
likely that it may never return into one's possession. Also whatis the
ruling about entering into such a contract with a landlord involving a
deposit, when one does not know with any certainty whetherthis money
will ever be returned?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
One must always remember that paying zakat from any given wealth is
the responsibility of the owner of that wealth (malik), and not the
responsibility of the one to whom it is given for a specific duration.
It is stated in al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya :
�(From the conditions for the obligation of Zakat is having complete
control over the wealth), and that is to have ownership and
possession. If one has ownership of the wealth and not possession�or
possession and not ownership�, then zakat will not be obligatory�As
far as the commodity that has not yet been deliveredis concerned�.it
will be part of the Nisab hence zakat will be obligatory on it
according to the correct opinion.� (al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 1/172)
The above text implies that both ownership and possession are
necessary in order for zakat to be obligatory. The latter part of the
above-mentioned text (concerning the commodity) implies that physical
possession is not a necessary requirement for the obligation of
zakat;rather, if one has full control over the wealth and it is
redeemable whenever one desires, then this will be considered
sufficient.
In light of the above explanation, there are three scenarios with
regards to the obligation of zakat on money that is deposited when
purchasing something or when renting a property:
1) If the deposit is part of the total cost paid towards the purchase
of an item or towards the rent of a property, then the depositor is
not responsible for paying zakat from it. The one to whom it is
deposited will be responsible to pay its zakat. The reason is quite
obvious, in that the depositor no longer remains the owner of this
wealth; rather, it has now come into the ownership of the one to whom
it is deposited.
2) If the deposited money is merely given as a trust on the condition
and understanding that it will be returned, then paying zakat from it
will be the responsibility of the one depositing it. The reason being
is that zakat is the responsibility of the one who owns the wealth,
andthe one who deposits the money here is considered to be the owner
of the deposited wealth. As far aspossession over this money is
concerned, as explained earlier, as long as one has control over this
wealth one will be considered to have possession. Thus, both ownership
and possessionare found on the money that is deposited; hence, the
depositor will be liableto pay zakat.
3) If the deposit cannot bewithdrawn over a specific period, then the
ruling concerning it is similar to that of other loans given for a
specific period, or it issimilar to giving an item as security (rahn).
The Hanafi jurists (fuqaha) have categorized loans into three types.
Without going into the details, the crux of the ruling is that, itis
preferable to include themoney in one�s total possessions and pay
zakatfrom it annually. However,payment of zakat will not be obligatory
until the debt is recovered, but when it is received, zakat for the
previous years will also have to be paid. Similarly, if a zakat-able
item was given as security, zakat will not be obligatory annually, but
when the item is redeemed, zakat for the previous years will have to
be paid.
In conclusion, zakat is obligatory on the individual who is the owner
of the wealth. Thus,if the depositor is still considered to be the
owner of the wealth that is deposited, he/she will be responsible to
pay zakat from it.
As far as your query concerning the permissibility of deposits is
concerned, this has beenanswered in an earlier answer. Please search
the archives on www.SunniPath.com
And Allah knows best/

How do We Attain Knowledge?

There are three issues which people frequently mix up when trying to answer this question. I hope the reader will distinguish between them:What is the source of knowledge? What are the means by which knowledge is acquired? And what is the method which must be followed toacquire knowledge? The source of knowledge is, as the name indicates, the place where knowledge may be found. The means are abilities and instruments which Allah has placed at our disposal for acquiring knowledge from its source. The sources of knowledge for aMuslim are existence and revelation. Its means are the senses and the mind. As for the method, it variesaccording to the type of knowledge and its source. It is a mistake, then, for us to say - as do some religiously minded people - that the sources of knowledge or its means are the senses and revelation, or that the scientific method is restricted to empirical sciences.
The Means of Acquiring Knowledge
The verse mentioned earlier establishes that thehuman being is born ignorant, and that Allah, the Exalted, provides him with hearing, vision and intellect. This makes it clear that it is not possible for a human being to acquire knowledge-whether it is religious or worldly-except by way of the senses or the intellect. Why do I say the senses when the verse only mentions hearing and sight? Because the other senses are mentioned in other verses. This verse singles them out for mention because they are the most important sensesfor acquiring information.
The senses are - as is well-known - connected tothe brain and, by way of it,to the mind. The mind is what coverts the material arriving through the senses into things that have meaning for the person. The sense which is most closely affiliated withthe intellect is hearing. A person hears sounds arising from natural thingslike thunder, wind, birds, animals and insects, but healso hears speech, which issounds that indicate meanings. Hearing is usually referred to in the Noble Quran to mean this second aspect. The one who doesn’t understand speech or benefit from it iscompared by the Quran to an animal which hears nothing more of speech that its sounds. Speech is affiliated with intellect in another way, that is, somespeech is true and some is false, and there is no way to distinguish the true from the false by the senses alone; logic must be applied as well. It determines whether the speech is internally contradictory or consistent.
If it finds it contradictingitself it rules that it is false.If it finds it internally consistent it examines the meaning: is it in accordance with the reality it refers to or not? Deciding whether there is accord or disparity might be a simple operation. If, for instance, someone says“The sun has risen,” all oneneeds to do is look up. If you see the sun, you judgethe statement to be true, and if you can’t see it, you judge it to be false. Judging the truth or falsehood of a statement may, however, be a long, complex operation, such as confirming the authenticity of a scientific theory like Relativity./