Commercial commodities
Commercial commodities refer to everything a Muslim own and uses for trade. They should be owned by personal action for the intention of trading and their value must be equal or to exceed Zakat threshold.
Commercial commodities
This refers to everything, of whatever type, a Muslim prepares for trading. It is the largest and most comprehensive type of property liable to zakat. These are kept for business that aims to make profit. Zakat is payable on all such commodities,
:as the generally phrased Qur’anic statement indicates
‘They would give a rightful share of their possessions to the one who asks [for help] and the one who is deprived’
(51:19)
‘Believers, spend on others out of the good things you have earned’
(2:267)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Mu’adh ibn Jabal when he was about to leave to take up his post as governor of Yemen:
‘Inform them that Allah has imposed on them a zakat duty that is taken from their wealthy and given to their poor’
Related by al-Bukhari, hadith No. 1395
Undoubtedly, commercial commodities represent money and are possessions.
Conditions applicable to commercial commodities
1-Their ownership.
2-They should be owned with the intention of trading. If a person inherits and sells what he inherited, there is no zakat on it as he sold it to get rid of it and not to invest it again. If he sold it to reinvest it again, this means he has to begin calculating zakat from the moment his intention changed to trading.
3-Their value should be equivalent to, or more than, the threshold of zakat.
4-The turn of a lunar year over the commercial commodities and their price. Usually, this is marked by the beginning date of such trading. On that particular day, the trader calculates the value of the merchandise in addition to the cash he has and gives 2.5% as zakat.
Moreover, the five conditions we have mentioned at the beginning of this chapter also apply to commercial commodities. When a year has turned, their value is estimated. If their total value is more than the threshold of zakat, a duty of 2.5 per cent is payable in zakat. In calculating the value of commercial commodities, the purchase price is not taken into account. They should be valued at the time when zakat is payable, i.e. at the turn of a year, because the value of any commercial goods may vary from time to time.