Zakat on money deposited in a bank

Question

A man has one thousand rupees, and a year has not yet passed over these rupees so that zakat would become fard on him; rather only six or nine months have passed — less than a year. He has deposited this money in a bank or in the “Muslim Fund” (an interest-free Muslim loan society), and the remaining months of the year pass while it is there. So when the year is completed while the money is in the bank, will zakat become wajib on him or not? Or is it a condition that the money be present with him?

Answer

Since he has deposited the money in the bank, he is able to take it at any time, and this is just as if it were with him. So let him keep paying its zakat: when the months that remain for the year to be completed have passed, let him pay the zakat.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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