First of all, I would like to thank you – after Allah – for the efforts you are making, and I ask Allah to place it in the balance of your good deeds and to benefit thereby everyone who reads it, Muslim or otherwise. My question may be summed up as follows: I found a job three years ago and I get a good salary from it, praise be to Allah. But after I worked out the time when my wealth reached the nisaab (minimum threshold at which zakaah becomes obligatory) it became clear that it was due in the month of Jumaada al-Aakhir, but without meaning to, I paid it in the month of Ramadan, thinking that I could choose the time to pay it. This continued for two years, but now I would like to ask about this year: can I pay zakaah in the month of Ramadan as I did in the two previous years, or should I pay it in the month of Jumaada al-Aakhir? Are there any consequences as a result of having delayed it in the two previous years; in other words, should I work out the value of zakaah for each month and pay zakaah for the months during which I delayed it? Please note that in the month of Ramadan I paid zakaah on all the wealth that I had my possession including that which I had obtained after the month of Jumaada al-Aakhir.


Praise be to Allah.

Firstly: 

It is obligatory to pay zakaah immediately,
once one’s wealth reaches the nisaab (minimum threshold) and one full
(Hijri) year has passed since then, because delaying it with no excuse is a
sin; but if it is delayed for a legitimate reason, such as not being able to
find any poor people to give it to, there is nothing wrong with that. 

An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him)
said: It is obligatory to pay zakaah immediately once it becomes due and it
is possible to pay it, and it is not permissible to delay it. This was
stated by Maalik, Ahmad, and the majority of scholars, because Allah, may He
be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “and
give Zakat” [al-Baqarah 2:43];
this command implies that is to be paid immediately.

End quote from Sharh al-Muhadhdhab
(5/308) 

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah
(9/398): 

If the time for paying zakaah is the month
of Jumada al-Oola, can we delay it until the month of Ramadan with no reason
or excuse? 

Answer: it is not permissible to delay
payment of zakaah after one full year has passed, unless there is a
legitimate shar‘i excuse, such as not being able to find any poor people at
the time the year is completed, or not being able to get it to them, or
because the wealth is not to hand, and so on. As for delaying it because of
Ramadan, that is not permissible unless the time period is short, such as if
the year is completed in the latter half of Sha‘baan. In that case there is
nothing wrong with delaying it until Ramadan. End quote.

Standing Committee for Academic Research and
Issuing Fatwas

‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Baaz,
‘Abdullah ibn Qa‘ood, ‘Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy
on him) was asked about the ruling on delaying zakaah until Ramadan. 

He replied: Zakaah, like other good deeds,
if done at a time that is regarded as having special virtue, that is better,
but when zakaah becomes due and the year has passed, it becomes obligatory
to pay it, and it should not be delayed until Ramadan. If the zakaah year
ends in Rajab, he should not delay it until Ramadan; rather he should pay it
in Rajab. If the zakaah year ends in Muharram, he should pay it in Muharram
and not delay it until Ramadan. But if the zakaah year ends in Ramadan, then
he should pay it in Ramadan. The same applies if some emergency arises among
the Muslims and he wants to bring forward his zakaah and give it before the
year has passed; there is nothing wrong with that.

End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa
(18/295) 

Secondly:

The questioner delayed giving the zakaah of
his wealth until Ramadan based on a mistaken notion, so there is no sin on
him because he was unaware of the correct ruling. Then if he paid it after
that in Ramadan, then he has done what is required of him, and he does not
have to do anything because of this delay. But this year he must pay it in
Jumaada al-Aakhirah and not delay it until Ramadan. 

And Allah knows best.