Giving zakat at various times before calculating it

Question

If, so as to be free of worry about the annual calculation of zakat, one keeps giving the miskins (destitute) — in cash and in kind — with the intention of zakat, an amount that by predominant probability, indeed certainly, exceeds the zakat by calculation, can one be released from [the obligation of] paying zakat in this way as well?

Answer

Whatever is given to the poor from time to time with the intention of zakat — once the total amounts to the zakat that has become wajib, the zakat will be discharged. If calculating again and again is troublesome, then one should calculate once, set the obligatory amount aside separately, and give from it.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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