Zakat owed by a deceased father and held back by his heirs

A question about zakat owed by a deceased father and held back by his heirs, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that zakat is a debt owed by the deceased, paid from the estate before division for all the years missed, and that money set apart as zakat is not liable to zakat again because it now belongs to the poor, though whoever delays paying it when able is sinful. ¹

The questioner said his father died owing zakat for several years that he had not paid; the heirs intended to pay it on his behalf but delayed, although the money had been available to them for about two and a half years. Is zakat due on this money they have kept? ¹

The Department answered that zakat is a debt owed by the deceased and must be paid for the period he did not pay before the estate is divided, if it is certain he did not pay it; it is calculated from the day he owned the nisab and a year passed on it, so the zakat for all the previous years is taken from the estate before division. ¹ It said that money set apart and kept as zakat is not liable to zakat again, because it has become the property of the poor, but the person responsible sins by delaying its payment if he was able to pay and did not. ¹ It quoted al-Shirazi in al-Muhadhdhab (1/268) on the two views of al-Shafi'i about what zakat attaches to: the old view, that it is owed as a liability with the property pledged for it, and the new and correct view, that it attaches to the property itself; on the latter, if someone does not pay until another year passes, no zakat is due for the second year, because the poor already own the obligatory share of the nisab. It also quoted al-Shirbini in Mughni al-Muhtaj (2/137) that zakat attaches to the property as a partnership in its amount, with other views treating it as a pledge, or as owed only as a liability, the weakest of them. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3682, dated 8 February 2022. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.