Likewise, assets purchased for rental income—cars, shops, or houses—incur no zakat on their capital value. Zakat becomes obligatory only on the rents collected, once they themselves—or when added to other holdings—reach the nisab and a full lunar year has passed over them.

If a person upon whom zakat has become due dies before paying it, the zakat must be taken from his estate; death does not cancel the obligation. The Prophet ﷺ said, “The debt owed to Allah is more deserving of being settled,” a report transmitted by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others. Therefore the heir, or anyone else, must discharge it from the deceased’s estate, for it is a binding right that is not annulled by death. It is a debt attached to the deceased’s liability, and that liability must be cleared.