The Completion of the Year (Hawl) Is Reckoned by the Lunar Calendar

Question

I used to reckon my wealth on some date of the previous blessed Ramadan and pay zakat. After that, for the completion of the year I fixed the twentieth of blessed Ramadan and began paying zakat [on it]. But now, because of partnership in trade, reckoning in Ramadan is very difficult. The difficulty is also because government income tax and the like are calculated by the English year, so in all companies and the like the accounts of all income and expenditure, debts and existing stock, running into many hundreds of…

Answer

[ar]في القنية: العبرة في الزكاة للحول القمري[/ar] “In al-Qunya: in zakat the lunar year is what counts” (“al-Bahr”, vol. 2, p. 203). From this text it is known that according to the Sacred Law the lunar year is considered in zakat. Therefore, as regards the amount due, the lunar year alone is to be considered.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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