Khums
854.
Khums is obligatory on the several things, of which we explain here two more important items, i.e. profit or gain from earning and amalgamation ofHalal (allowed) wealth with Halal (allowed); and other things like minerals and treasuretrove are explained in detailed books.
855.
If a person earns by means of trade, industry or any other ways of earning, like earning some money by offering prayers and fasting on behalf of a dead person or if someone gives him a gift, providing that it exceeds the annual expenses for maintaining himself and his family, he should pay Khums (i.e. one fifth) or the surplus, in accordance with the rules which will be explained later.
856.
There is no Khums liability on ?idàq (marriage settlement) which a wife receives, nor on the property which a husband gets in exchange of divorcing his wife by way of Khul nor on Diyah (blood money) received by someone; and the same rule applies to the property which one inherits. If a Shi'ite, however, inherits inherits from a source which is not accepted in our Islamic laws, like inheriting from a distant relative despite his heirs being present (Tasib), it will be considered a gain, and Khums will have to be paid from it. Similarly, if a person inherits from an unexpected source, neither from his father nor from his son, then as an obligatory precaution, he will pay Khums from that inheritance if it exceeds his annual expenses.
857.
If a person inherits some property and knows that the person from whom he has inherited did not pay Khums from it, he (the heir) should pay its Khums. And if that property is itself not liable for Khums, but the heir knows that the person from the deceased’s estate. But in both the cases, if the person from whom he inherits did not believe in Khums, or never paid, it, then it is not necessary for the heir to pay off the Khums owed by the dead.
858.
If a person purchases a commidity, and after the transaction, pays its price from the money from which Khums has not been paid by him, the tranaction will be in order, but he will be indebted to those who deserve to receive Khums, for the sum he has paid to the seller.
859.
If a Shi'ite (Ithna Ashariyyah) person purchases something on which Khums has not been paid, the Khums will be the liability of the seller, and the buyer is not responsible for anything.
860.
If a person gives a gift to a Shi'ite (Ithna Ashariyyah), from which Khums has not been paid, one fifth of it is the liability of the donor himself, and one who gets the gift is not required to pay anything.
861.
If a person acquires wealth from an unbeliever, or a person who does not believe in paying khums or does not pay Khums at all, it will not be obligatory for him, that is, the person who receives it, to pay Khums.
862.
It is olbigatory on the merchants, the earners, the artisans, the employees and others like them, to pay Khums from whatever is in excess of their yearly expenses, when a year passes since they started earning. This rule applies also to the preachers and the like, even if their earning is in certain parts of a year only, provided that it suffices for the most expenses of the year, and also to a person who has not pay job to earn money for his life and profits by profits government or people or makes an unexpected gain; in all these cases one should pay Khums after a year has passed since he gained, on the savings which exceeds his expenditure for that year. Then he can calculate a year for each earning separately.
863.
A peraon can pay Khums as and when he earns a profit during a year, and it is also permissible to delay payment of Khums till the end of the year. But if he knows that he will have no need to it till the end of the year, he should, as an obligatory precaution, pay its Khums immediately and there is no obj ect a an if adopts the solar year for the poy ment of khu ms.
864.
If one makes a profit, but dies during the same year, his expenses till his death should be deducted fiom the profit, and Khums should be paid on the balance immediately.
865.
If the price of a commodity one purchases for the purpose of business shoots up, and he does not sell it, and its price falls during the same year, it is not obligatory on him to calculate Khums on the increased prices.
866.
If the price of a commodity which a person purchases for the purpose of business shoots up, and he does not sell it till after the end of the year, expecting that the price will rise, and then the price falls, it is obligatory, as a precaution for him to calculate Khums based on the increase in the price.
867.
If a person possesses some goods other than merchandise, from which Khums has been paid by him, if its price shoots up, and he sells it, he will pay Khums on the excess gained providing it exceeds his expenditure for that year. Similarly if a tree bears fruit, or a sheep which is kept for its meat becomes fat he should pay Khums on their excess.
868.
If a person establishes a garden with a money, on which Khums has been paid or is not entitled to Khums, with the intention of selling it after its price goes up, he should pay Khums on the fruit, the growth of the trees and the saplings grown or which are planted, and dry twigs which could be cut and used and the increase in the price of graden. But, if his intention is to sell thefrut the fruit of trees and benefit from its value, paying the Khums of the excesss of the price is not obligatory, but he should pay Khums on rest.
869.
If a person plants willow, plane tree and other trees like them, he should pay Khums on their growth every year. And similarly, if the panches of the trees which are cut every year, makes his income exceed his expenditure for the year, he should pay his Khums.
870.
If a person has a few kinds of trade, for example, he trades both sugar and rice, if they are all considered as one business in gains and expenditures, benefits and losses etc., he should pay Khums at the end of the year from what exceeds his expenses. And if he makes a profit in one source and sustains loss in another, he can offset his loss of one with the profit of the other. But if he has two different businesses, like, if he is engaged in trade as well as farming or has two businesses considered as one but their accounts of benefits and expenditures are apart, he cannot, as an obligatory precaution, offest the loss in one with the profit made from the other.
871.
A person can deduct from his profit, the expenditure which he incurs in making profit, like, on pokerage and transportation or losses occured in his instruments or equipments, and it is not necessary to pay Khums on that amount.
872.
No Khums is payable on what one spends his profit during the year on food, dress, furniture, purchase of house, marriage of son, dowry of daughter, Ziyarah etc., provided that it is not beyond his status.
873.
Whatever a person spends on Nadhr (vow) and Kaffarah is a part of his annual expenditure. Similarly, what he gives away as a gift or a prize is included in his annual expenditure, provided it is not beyond his status.
874.
If a person is usually expected to prepare all the dowry for his daughter over a few years, and if it is deemed unbecoming for him not to give away any dowry, Khums will not be liable on what he purchases as a part of dowry during the year, provided it is within his means and preparing that part of dowry in one year is commonly considered as usual yearly expenditure. But if he exceeds his means, or spends the prafit of one year to buy the dowry in the following year, he will pay its Khums.
875.
Whatever a person spends for his journey to A*ajj or other Ziyarah (pilgrimages) is reckoned to be part of his expenditure of the year in which he spends it, and if his journey extends till part of the next year, he should pay Khums on what he spends during the second year.
876.
If a person who earns profit from his work and trade, has some other property on which Khums is not liable, he can calculate his expenditure for the year from the profit earned from his work or business.
877.
If s person purchases provision for his use during the year, with the profit made by him, and at the end of the year a part of it remains unused, he should pay Khums on it. And if he wants to pay its value, which may have incresed since he pought the provision, he should calculate the price prevailing at the end of the year.
878.
If a person purchases household accessories with the profit earned by him before paying Khums, it is not necessary for him to pay Khums on them if their need ends after the year ends. There will no liability of Khums if their needs cases to exist during the year, but they must be those articles which are kept for following years, like the winter and summer dresses. Other than these articles, Khums will be, as an obligatory precaution, liable as soom as their need is over during that year. Also, when a woman no more needs her ornaments for adornment, Khums will not be liable.
879.
If a person does not make any profit in the beginning of the year, and spends his capital, and then makes some profit before the year ends, he is allowed to deduct the amount spent from his capital, from the profit.
880.
If a part of the capital is lost in trade etc., a person can deduct the lost amount from the profit made in the same year.
881.
If something else other than capital is lost from his wealth, and he needs that thing during that every year, he can procure it from the profit, and Khums is not liable on it.
882.
If a person does not make any profit throughout a year, and borrows money to meet his expenses, he cannot deduct the borrowed amount from the profit made by him during the succeeding years not paying its Khums. But, if he borrows money during the year to meet his expenses, and makes profit before the year ends, he can deduct the borrowed amount from his profit. Similarly, in the first case mentioned above, he can deduct his debt from the profit made during the year, and that part of the profit will not be liable for Khums.
883.
If a person becomes liable for Khums and he has not paid it although ayear has passed, he cannot have any discretion over that property, before paying its Khums.
884.
If a person who owes Khums makes a compromise with the Mujtahid, and takes responsibility for it, he can appropraite the entire property, and the profit he earns from it after the compromise, belongs to him and he should pay his debt gradually so that he may not be considered as engligent.
885.
If one partner pays Khums on the profit made by him, and the other partner does not pay it, and he (the other partner) offers in the next year, as share of his capital, the property on which Khums has not been paid by him, the first partner who has paid Khums can have the right of disposal over that property, if he is a Shi'ite Muslim (Ithna Ashariyyah).
886.
If a minor child profits in some way, even if he is given a gift, Khums becomes liable and it is obligatory upon his guardain to pay the Khums provided that the profit is not expended for his necessities during the year. But if the guardain does not pay it, the minor child will have to pay it when he attains puberty.
887.
If a person acquires wealth from another person, and doubts whether or not he has paid Khums on it, he has a discretion over it. In fact, even if he is certain that the other person has not paid Khums on it, he has the discretion over it if he is a Shi'ite (Ithnaa Ashariyyah), and the other person does not pay Khums at all.
888.
If a person purchases with the profit earned by him, a thing which is not supposed to be part of his needs and annual expenses, it is obligatory on him to pay Khums on it at the end of the year. And if he does not pay Khums, and the value of the things increases, he should pay Khums on its current value.
889.
IfHalal (allowed) property gets mixed up with Halal (allowed) property in such a way that it is not possible to identofy each, from the other, of and the owner the Halal (allowed) propertyand its quantity are not known, and if it is also not known whether the quantity of the Halal (allowed) property is more or less than one fifth, the person concerned may pay Khums on it to make the balanceHalal (allowed), and as an obligatory precaution the Khums should be paid to one entitled to receive Khums and such payments as Radd-ul-mazalim.
890.
IfHalal (allowed) property gets mixed up with Halal (allowed) property, and the person concerned knows the quantity of Halal (allowed) property, (irrespective of it being more or less than one fifth), but does not know its owner, he should give away that quantity as Sadaqah on behalf of its owner, and the obligatory precaution is that he should also obtain permission from the Mujtahid.
891.
IfHalal (allowed) property gets mixed up with Halal (allowed) property, and the person concerned does not know the quantity of Halal (allowed) property, but knows its owner, they may come to some compromise, but if they do not come to an agreement with each other, the person concerned should pay the owner a sum which would ensure that the amount due has been paid up. In fact, if the person concerned knows that it was due to his own negligence that the mix up occurred, then he should, as a precaution, pay more than what he feels might belong to the owner.
892.
If a person pays khums on a property which hasHalal (allowed) mixed with Halal (allowed) parts, and learns later that the quantity of Halal (allowed) property was more than Khums, he should give the excess as Sadaqah, on behalf of the owner of the property.
893.
If a person pays Khums on a property which has been mixed up, or gives some proeprty as Sadaqah on behalf of an unknown person, and if the owner turns up later, as an obligatory precaution, he must reimburse him his part, if he does not agree to the action taken.
894.
If aHalal (allowed) property mixes up with Halal (allowed) property, and the quantity of the Halal (allowed) property is known, and the person concerned knows that the owner is one of a group, but cannot identify him, he should inform all of them. If one of them claims while others do not, or confirm the first person, he should hand over to the one who claimed. And if two or more people claim, he should refer to the Mujtahid for his decision after all attmepts at compromise and understanding have failed. And if all of them in the group showed no interest, or did not present themselves for a compromise, then he will draw lots to determine the owner, and as a precaution, the lost will be drawn by the Mujtahid, or his agent (Wakil).
Disposal of Khums
895.
Khums should be divided into two parts. One part is the share of Sayyids (descendants of the holy Prophet, s.a.w.a.), which should be given to a Sayyid who is poor, or orphan, or who has become stranded without money during his journey. The second part is the share of Imam (A.S.), and during the present time it should be given to a fully qualified Mujtahid, or be spent for such purposes as allowed by, that Mujtahid. Asanobligatory precaution, that Mujtahid must be A`lam, and well versed in public affairs.
896.
Ifa person can be given to a sayyid who may not be Adil, but it should not be given to a sayyid who is not Ithna Ashariyyah.
897.
If a person claims that he is Sayyid, Khums cannot be given to him unless two just (Adil) persons confirm that he is a Sayyid, or if one is sure and satisfied in some way about him being a Sayyid.
898.
Khums can be given to a person who is known as Sayyid in his home city, if one is not certain or satisfied about anything to the contrary.
899.
If it is obligatory on a person to meet the xpenses of a Sayyid or a Sayyidah, who is not his wife, he cannot, on the basis of obligatory precaution give him/her food, dress and other essential items of subsistence from Khums. However, there is no harm if he gives him/her a part of Khums to meet some expenses other than those obligatory on him.
900.
The obligatory precaution is that a needy Sayyid should not be given Khums in excess of his yearly expenses.
901.
If a person is the creditor of a person who is entitled to receive Khums, and wants to adjust his debt againts Khums payable by him, he should, as an obligatory precaution, either seek the permission of a Mujtahid to do so, or give Khums to the deserving person and thereafter, the deserring persn returns it to him towards the debt. He can also become pkoxy of the deserving person, receiving Khums on his behalf, and then deduct his debt from it.
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Author: Ayatullah Seyyed Ali Sistani
