Zakat on a pharmacy with stock but no cash

A question about zakat on a pharmacy with stock but no cash, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that zakat is due immediately and may not be delayed when one is able to pay; if no cash is available and only instalments are possible, it must be paid, even in instalments, from the price of goods sold after it fell due. ¹

A pharmacy owner whose stock had completed its zakat year, but who had no cash, asked how he should pay zakat. ¹

The Department answered that zakat must be paid immediately from the day it falls due and may not be delayed when one is able, since it is the right of the poor, quoting al-Nawawi in al-Majmu (5/333) that in the Shafi'i school zakat must be paid at once: once due and payable it may not be delayed, and whoever delays after being able sins and becomes liable. ¹ It said that if there is no cash to pay the zakat and instalments are the only possibility, it must still be paid, even in instalments, from the price of goods sold after the due date, by setting aside a fixed amount from each day's takings. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4525, dated 1 November 2026. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.