Zakat is due on Muslims only but some conditions are to be applied such as; being free, owning more than person’s need from money food and clothes, and in some cases the turn of a full lunar year on a person’s property.
Conditions of Zakat
Conditions: Zakat is a duty incumbent on those who meet the following conditions:
1-Islam: Zakat is not accepted from unbelievers in Islam, because it is a financial worship which brings a Muslim closer to Allah. No worship is acceptable from an unbeliever until he or she embraces Islam.
:Allah says
‘What prevents their Charity from being accepted from them is that they have disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger.’
(9:54)
2-Freedom: No zakat is taken from slaves.
3-True and settled ownership of the threshold of zakat in excess of a person’s necessities, such as food, clothes and residence.
4- The turn of a full lunar year after the ownership of the threshold of zakat.
:The Prophet (peace be upon him) says
‘No zakat is due on any property until the turn of a year.’
Related by al-Tirmidhi, hadith No. 632; Ibn Majah, hadith No. 1,792; al-Bayhaqi in Al-Sunan al-Kubra, vol. 4, p. 173
This condition does not apply to agricultural produce, mineral resources or rikaz. With regard to agricultural produce,
:Allah says
‘Eat of their fruit when they come to fruition, and give (to the poor) what is due to them on harvest day.’
(6:141)
Mineral resources and rikaz are gained from the ground, and as such the condition of the turn of the year does not apply to it.