Resolution of the Council of Senior Scholars concerning the payment of zakat on grains and fruits in cash:
(Resolution No. 98, dated 6/11/1402 AH)

Praise be to Allah alone. May blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions. To proceed:

The Council of Senior Scholars, in its twentieth session held in the city of al-Taʾif from 24/10/1452 AH to 7/11/1402 AH, reviewed the letter of His Royal Highness the Deputy Prime Minister, No. (22848) dated 27/9/1402 AH, in which His Highness requested a legal opinion on the permissibility of paying zakat on grains and fruits in cash rather than in kind or in the same category. The Council also examined the letter of His Highness the Deputy Minister of the Interior, No. (42234) dated 22/9/1402 AH, regarding the fatwa issued by the Honourable Judge of al-Ghāt permitting the collection of cash in lieu of zakat on grains and fruits. In addition, it reviewed the letter of His Excellency the Minister of Justice, No. (258/1/F) dated 26/6/1402 AH, concerning the case referred to him by the Honourable Chief Judge of the Courts of al-Qasīm on this subject.

After considering the aforementioned documents, studying several scholarly citations, and bearing in mind that zakat was instituted for numerous benefits—among them assisting the poor, meeting their needs, and purifying and elevating the wealthy—and after deliberation, reflection on the practice that prevailed in the early community during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his rightly guided successors, and their followers, and noting the instances in which portions of zakat were accepted as monetary value when the item itself was unavailable, the Council of Senior Scholars unanimously resolves:

The basic principle is that zakat should be paid from the very assets themselves, in accordance with the texts transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that specify the zakatable properties and the amounts due, whenever that is feasible.