Zakat on an indebted landowner

Question

A person has eighty to ninety bighas of land (bigha — a local unit of land area) and is its owner, but he owes four to five thousand rupees. With the produce of this land he meets his needs with great difficulty, and whatever little remains he gives to his creditors towards the debt. Will such a person be regarded according to the Shari‘a as an owner of the nisab (sahib al-nisab) or not? And is zakat fard upon him or not?

Answer

Zakat, sacrifice and the like are not wajib on such a person; rather, he himself is entitled to receive zakat: [ar]وَلَا زَكَاةَ فِي ثِيَابِ الْبَدَنِ وَأَثَاثِ الْمَنْزِلِ وَدَارِ السُّكْنَى وَنَحْوِهَا كَالْحَوَانِيتِ وَالْعَقَارَاتِ[/ar] “There is no zakat on clothes [worn] on the body, household furnishings, the dwelling house and the like, such as shops and real estate”…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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