My father has money he deposited in the bank three years ago worth about 200,000 Egyptian pounds, which makes a profit of 1,800 E£ in a month. We have no other income and this is not enough to meet our needs. There is nothing else to save or to economize and my situation is desperate. I have nothing to get married with or otherwise. Despite this, some men of religion have told us that my father has to pay zakat on this money and in these circumstances that would mean that we would have to take from the deposit and pay from it the zakat.

So my father went and sold the piece of land he owns to pay the zakat while I was telling him: Your son doesn`t even have money for the normal needs of daily life and your daughter still hasn`t finished preparing (the clothes, furniture and appliances) for marriage and you want to go and give this money to other needy people!

The question in this case is: Does my father really have to pay zakat? Considering that I know that capital which is being used is not counted in the calculation of zakat and that the bank is making this money work [for us].

Please give us the benefit of your advice so that I can get my father out of his confusion and do what Allah loves and what pleases Him.

All praise is for Allah, and may peace and blessing be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family. To proceed:

There are a number of issues that need to be addressed in your question:

1-Investing money by depositing it in banks dealing with interest is not permissible in the first place because the riba (interest) you take is haram (forbidden). The way out in this situation is to put your money in an investment company that conducts business according to the rules of Islamic law, or to do it yourself by investing it in a halal (permissible) way.

2-As long as your father owns cash that has reached the minimum amount (nisab) and a year has passed [since it has been in his ownership], he must pay zakat, since the capital—and not the profit—is enough to support the entire family. The solution in this case is to buy fixed assets with the capital that would bring in profit, such as a house that can be rented, a rental car or shares in a manufacturing company that conducts halal (permissible) business, etc.

In this case, zakat would be obligatory on the product or profit and not on the fixed asset, on condition that the money has reached the minimum amount (nisab) and an entire Islamic lunar year (hawl) has passed.