Buying Items for Relatives at a Markup, and Zakat on Trade Goods

Question

If my father, sister, brother and other relatives give money and ask me to buy something, may I buy it from a shop and give it to them after adding my own profit? Is such trade valid, given that I have no separate shop? Can such trade be done with my mother? Is there room for other relatives? Under which heading and in what way should zakat be paid on such trade goods, given that I engage in this trade only temporarily?

Answer

When someone has made you his agent (wakil), saying, “Buy such-and-such a thing for me for so many rupees,” and you buy it for him with his money, it is not permissible for you to take a profit on it. For parents, brother, sister and strangers alike the ruling is the same.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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