Zakaah On Shares

A1. Yes, Zakaah is Waajib on shares.

A2. It should be noted that Zakaah is not Waajib on the entire share. Rather Zakaah is only Waajib upon the Zakaatable assets of the company (i.e. the market value of the merchandise contained in the share of the company).

Regarding the non-Zakaatable assets of the company e.g. fixtures, fittings, machinery etc. the value of all these things will be evaluated in the share and will not be taken in account when discharging the Zakaah.

A3. Fundamentally, to procure shares and invest one’s money in such companies where the main business is of a Halaal nature, is permissible. However, if the company’s main business is of a Haraam nature, such as selling wine, pork, etc., then it will not be permissible.

Furthermore, at times these corporate companies get involved in certain interest-bearing transactions, hence you should try to retrieve information from the company if they are involved in such transactions and are accruing interest. If so, then one should remove that amount of money when one receives the dividend pay-out. If one did not remove the interest amount over the years, then one should calculate the interest amount accumulated over the years and then remove the entire amount when one sells the shares. The rest of the money will then be permissible to keep.

A4. You can request them to pay out your share in the company.