pay zakat on it until he sells it. Both positions are attributed to Malik, but the first is the more accurate.

When a full lunar year has elapsed over the capital of a qirad (profit-sharing investment), zakat must be taken from the entire amount. If, however, the capital is divided and the agent receives his share of the profit before the year is complete, he begins a new year-count from the moment he takes possession of it.

The agent is not permitted to pay zakat on the capital while its owner is absent, for the owner may be in debt—which would suspend his obligation—or he may even have died.

Nor is zakat due on the qirad capital until all of it is present, has been liquidated, and the owner is on hand—unless the agent is a mudir. In that case he pays zakat in the manner of a mudir and in the owner’s presence.

Whenever zakat falls due on the owner’s share of the qirad with the passage of the year, it likewise falls due on the whole capital, whether or not the agent’s share by itself reaches the zakat threshold. Conversely, if zakat is waived for the owner because of a debt or any other reason, it is likewise waived for the agent. Should the agent himself be burdened by a debt that consumes his profit, the zakat is lifted from him as well. There are, however, divergent opinions on this point, which we have set out—along with other rulings on the zakat of qirad—in the chapter on qirad.