Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Simplified Zakat Guidance Zakat on Children’s Assets
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The speaker discusses the concept of children being held on the side of gifts or assets for their benefit. They explain that children have the option to use these assets for themselves or their parents, and that it is important to consider the benefits of using them for children. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of not spending too much money on children for their own sake.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah AR Rahman AR Rahim today with regard to the cart, I want to
speak about assets that are kept on the side for children. So
number one, if they are the children's assets in the sense
that they were given gifts, or eat or other times, or it's an
inheritance that the child has received and too young, to manage
it for themselves, and we as parents, or uncle's or whoever it
is looking after those assets, then remember, there is no circuit
and children for the cat to be wajib, an obligatory a person must
be seen, and they must be also adult past maturity. So for
children, they could be millionaires, they do not have to
pay any circuit. That's quite clear. However, there's always
some other money sometimes which or, for example, somebody
contacted me recently that they've got some jewelry from their mother
that they would actually don't want for themselves, they want to
dedicate it to their daughter, and keep it for them, or they've got
some money that they want to save up for the children to be only
used by the children. So now this is where it gets a bit
complicated. As a as a father, the father is the generally the
representative of the child to take ownership of any money for
the child's benefit, and then basically keep the money for the
child. So now if you do have a separate pot pot, a separate bank
account in which the child's wished, money or assets, whatever
they may be, whether that be gold or silver, whether that be
something else is kept for the child is not something that you
dip in whenever you want. And also consider that you can just use it
whenever you want. It's something which is purely dedicated for the
children. And if you do take from there, then you pay back. And you
know that this is definitely for the children, then there will be
no zakat on that money. Because it's the child has become the
child's right. So while it was yours, and you dedicate to the
child, it's like the father who's taken the money dedicated to the
child, it's like he's taken ownership as the child, right? So
that way it becomes for the children, then there's no zakat on
that. But remember, if it's for dual purpose, where you hope it's
for the children, but then you're going to tap into it whenever you
want without paying it back, then in that case, you will have to pay
zakat because it means that you have not really given it and
dedicated to the children. Now, when the child becomes mature, he
doesn't have to base the guard on it straightaway, when he becomes
mature, then he will have to wait a year. And if after a year, he
still has over the nisab amount of wealth that he started with,
at least in his hobby started with, then he will pay a year
afterwards. But that will be discussed later. Now, specifically
for the UK, and any other country where they provide children with
welfare, with benefits. Or you can say Child Benefit, or whatever
other benefits that are provided to children like the child trust
fund or something like that. And whatever that is called in
different parts of the world. So generally, what happens is that
the government provides a certain amounts of money to go to spending
on the children. So there's a difference in terms of the
different things that different governments may provide, if it's
money, and funds, which the government provides for the
children to be saved for the children. And that's very clear,
like there was a, there was a scheme called the child, the child
Trust Fund scheme, where there were certain amounts of money that
a child would get at birth and then at a certain age, and that
was not to be spent by anybody else, it was supposed to be
actually invested for the child to maybe pay for schooling fees or
whatever later on, then that is the child's money, there's going
to be no zakat on that. However,
if it's child benefit in the UK, or any other benefit of that
nature, that's actually given to the parents to be used for the
children. And parents, if they're doing their job, right, they're
already going to be spending on their children, they're providing
the home, the child is using the home, they're providing heating,
they're providing food, they're providing clothing, where is that
money coming from? Now that if the parent says that the child,
there's a lot of parents who actually feel and who think that
child benefits is only for the children, it can't be used
otherwise, it's true, it's given by provided by the government to
all families, as far as I understand, right for the
children. But what I'm saying is that, if you're already spending
from your own funds, to the upkeep, the feeding, and clothing,
and diapers and everything else of the child, Then aren't you already
spending that amount that is provided by the going to child
benefit. So that's why it's not necessary to keep the child's
benefit separately, and leave it for the child because the child
still has to survive, and that you're spending on them. So you
can actually take it from there and consider that to be part of
that. The only time that this would be otherwise is if a parent
is deprived or parent guardian where it's depriving the child and
making them suffer, they don't have the food to eat or whatever
and this money they're using on themselves, then that is where
that would be wrong. But otherwise, if you're using that
amount of money on the child, then that's been spent for anyway so
that's, that's why they're
Money is actually part of the family pot to be spent on the
children and, and so on. However, if somebody wants, if they feel
that I'm spending my own money on the child,
and I should keep this separately, that will go back to what I
initially said earlier that if they dedicate that to the child
fully, not to tap into it themselves, then that will become
the child's exclusively and that means whatever you spend, that
would be your, you know, your gift to the child, which is fine. So, I
hope this, there is absolutely no harm. And I want to make this
clear because some people feel guilty that they using the child
benefit. As they said, if you're spending that much or more on the
child anyway, you should absolutely not feel guilty that
this money is not being kept aside because that's not the purpose of
it is not to save up. That's not the purpose of it. It's to
actually help with the upkeep of that child.