is extracted from mines: zakat becomes due on it the very moment it is brought out, just as one pays zakat on crops. We shall, Allah willing, set out the rulings for zakat on minerals and on commercial assets in their respective chapters later in this book.

Whether the wealth obtained by any of the aforementioned avenues remains uncollected for years before it is received or not, no zakat is owed on it until the beneficiary actually takes possession of it; thereafter a complete lunar year must pass while it is in his hand—unless the asset is an inheritance that the heir was able to collect but deliberately left untouched. In that case he must pay zakat on it for every year.

If he was prevented from accessing it, there are two opinions. The first says that no zakat is due until he receives it and a further year then elapses. The second maintains that, once he receives it, he pays zakat for a single year only. This is the distilled position of Imam Mālik according to most of his followers.

Others contend—regarding inheritances, deposits, and every type of property for which no one other than the owner bears liability—that zakat is obligatory on such wealth even if he has not yet taken physical possession of it, as long as it remains under his own liability and not under that of the one holding it; he must therefore pay zakat for all the years that have passed. This, Allah willing, is the sounder view. It was adopted by Sahnun and by al-Mughīra al-Makhzūmī, and it is the opinion I follow.

As for an asset that has left its owner’s hand—whether as a cash loan or as merchandise for trade—and then remains with the borrower for several years before being repaid, the owner pays zakat on it for only one year.

With respect to profit earned on capital, Mālik rules that zakat is assessed according to the year of the principal by which that profit was generated: if a sum of money has stayed with its owner for a full lunar year during which no zakat was due, and at the end of that year it yields profit, that profit is combined with the principal for zakat purposes, regardless of whether the principal itself is liable to zakat or