Zakat on inherited gold left undivided for years

A question about gold left by a grandmother that stayed undivided for thirty years, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department set out the Shafi'i view that zakat for all past years is due on receipt and the Maliki view that the zakat year starts from receipt, and allowed the heirs to follow either view. ¹

The questioner said his grandmother died leaving gold that remained undistributed for thirty years, and asked whether zakat is owed on it for the past years and how it is paid. ¹

The Department answered that a deceased person's wealth leaves his ownership on death, its zakat year is cut off, and it passes into the heirs' ownership, starting a new year from the moment of death; if the estate is divided, each heir reckons the year on his own share if it reaches the minimum. ¹ It said that if the wealth stays jointly held and undivided and reaches the minimum, which it gives as 85 grams of 24-carat gold, the Shafi'is hold its zakat due every year, so each heir pays the past years' zakat at 2.5% on receiving his share, because his ownership never lapsed; it quoted al-Khatib al-Shirbini in Mughni al-Muhtaj on zakat on seized or lost wealth once it returns to its owner. ¹ It reported that the Malikis require receipt and the passing of a year, so there is no zakat on inherited wealth for the years before it is received and the heir starts a new year after receipt, citing al-Dasuqi's gloss on al-Sharh al-Kabir that the relied-upon position is that of al-Mudawwana, which counts receipt. ¹ It concluded that heirs who wish to take the more cautious course may follow the Shafi'is and pay zakat for the past years, while those who follow the Malikis and start the year from the day they receive their shares, given how long the wealth was held, do nothing wrong. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3972, dated 19 May 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 ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.