Using a Hila to Avoid the Obligation of Zakat

Question

A person has ten tolas (a unit of weight, ≈ 11.66 g) of gold and pays zakat every Ramadan. Now he uses this hila: before Ramadan arrives he gives the ten tolas of gold to his wife, that is, makes her the owner, or makes one of his relatives the owner; then in the same way the wife, before the next Ramadan arrives, makes the husband the owner of that gold. In this case will zakat be lifted from the husband and wife or not? And if it is lifted, what is the Shari‘a ruling on doing so?

Answer

Doing this merely to avoid zakat is makruh tahrimi, although by doing so zakat will not become due.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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