Zakat on money in frozen accounts

A question about zakat on money in frozen bank accounts, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that a frozen account the bank invests for its owner is zakated every year, while one the owner cannot use and that yields no return owes no zakat until he receives it, when he pays zakat for one year. ¹

The questioner asked about the ruling on zakat on money in frozen accounts and how it is paid. ¹

The Department answered that zakat is a pillar of Islam, due on owned wealth that reaches the minimum and completes a year, and is paid every lunar year. ¹ It said frozen accounts whose owners cannot dispose of them are of two kinds: one the bank operates and that yields a return for its owner, on which zakat is due because the money is growing for him; and one the owner can neither withdraw nor use and that yields no return, on which no zakat is due until the owner receives it, at which point he pays zakat for one year. ¹ It cited the resolution of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy at its sixteenth session on legal deposits, that a deposit held temporarily is zakated with the company's assets, while one held permanently is zakated for one year when returned to the company. ¹ It concluded that frozen accounts invested for their owners are zakated every year, and those their owners cannot withdraw owe no zakat until received, when zakat is paid for one year. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3993, dated 7 August 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.