Salamu alaikum, brother. I have two questions I wish for an answer. First, I wanted to know if the 10% zakah from our monthly job income apply to only working male or both working male and working female? Second and last, if a youngster is currently unemployed but is granted monthly allowance from their parent, do they have to give the 10% as a sadaqa? That is all and thank you for taking your time. Have a good Ramadan, may Allah Bless you and your family.
Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,
I am not an expert on zakat, so I recommend that you consult a specialist. According to my understanding zakat is not calculated on your job income directly but on your savings. Once you have enough money saved to equal the value of 85 grams of gold (about $3500 USD) or 595 grams of silver (about $279 USD), then you would be required to pay 2.5% (not 10%) of this saved amount in zakat after a year passes (the lower amount, that is $279 USD, is preferred when the two prices differ). If you have $279 in the bank at lunar month 1, and at lunar month 2 you add another $500 to your savings, then once a lunar year passes, you would pay 2.5% of the $279 as zakat, and a month later you would pay 2.5% of the $500. Each month’s savings would get its own zakat taken out after a year.
You can also simplify things by setting a particular month of the year, such as Ramadan, to pay zakat. Each Ramadan you would look at your savings and pay 2.5% of it regardless of what time of the year you made the separate amounts of money that went into it.
There is no difference between males and females in zakat. And according to the majority opinion zakat is also required on the money of youth if it is more than 595 grams of silver and a year passes on it.
References:
- Fatwa 1 (Arabic PDF)
- Fatwa 2 (Arabic PDF)
- Fatwa 3 (Arabic PDF)
- Fatwa 4 (Arabic PDF)
- Fatwa 5 (Arabic PDF)