In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent

Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

Please, kindly counsel me about paying Zakat on stocks, and explain the difference between the stocks for jobbing and the stocks being purchased with the intent of waiting for profiting or for selling in time of need, especially the Arab Emirates` market stocks. Jazakumu Allah Khairan.

In the name of Allah the Merciful the Beneficent
Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon His kind Messenger, family members, companions and the true followers until the Day of Judgment.

If the stocks belong to an industrial company, the Zakat is due upon the percentage that the final products which are put for sale that represent them, and not for the machinery and the fixed assets. In commercial companies, the Zakat is due upon the value of the products which are put for sale, which are valued according to the value market, and not to the fixed assets. And in services` companies, the Zakat is due upon the profits of the stocks and not on its value. All the aforementioned is known as "reviewing the general budget", "the accounts of profits and losses", "knowing the amount of the annual consumption of the fixed assets", and as "questioning the financial department of the company". It is sufficient in all this, what is held as "the most likely of assumption", and if you pay more Zakat than what is mentioned above, so, this is considered as what Allah says: "then that will be a determining factor in all affairs", (Quran, 3:186); and as He also says: "and if any one obeyeth his own impulse to good, be sure that God is he who recogniseth and knoweth", (Quran, 2:158). There is no difference between what you call as "stocks for jobbing" and any other kind of stocks, because all stocks are considered as trade offers upon which the Zakat is due. As for the Arab Emirates` market stocks, I really do not know that they have any privileges over others. Allah knows best.