He and his wife used to pay Zakah on their money together

As Salam alaikum, My question is regarding Zakat. We normally calculate total belongings of ours, i.e, myself and my wife, as from the beginning we have not kept things separately, hence zakat on total possessions. And alhamdulilah we have been paying our zakat every year. Now, I have a govt interest free student loan, do I need to pay the zakat or should i use that money and pay my student loan. Please reply. Jazakallah Khairan

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, it should be mentioned that you and your wife do not have to pay Zakah in the way you mentioned in the question; rather, each one of you may pay Zakah on his/her own money if it reaches the Nisaab [i.e. the minimum amount liable for Zakah] and if a whole lunar year elapses over it. So, if the money of each one of you does not reach the Nisaab, then he/she is not obligated to pay Zakah on it. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 129155.

Mixing your money does not affect the Zakatable items other than the freely grazing livestock according to the view of the majority of the scholars . Al-Khiraqi said: “If they mix their items other than this [grazing livestock], then each one of them should give Zakah separately if what he owns is liable for Zakah.”

Ibn Qudaamah interpreted the above statement saying: “It means that if they mix [their Zakatable items] other than the grazing livestock, like gold and silver, tradable items, plants and fruits, then their mixing does not have any effect, and the ruling that applies to them is the same ruling of those whose items are not mixed; this is the view of most scholars.”

Therefore, each one of you should look to the money that he owns independently and if it reaches the Nisaab and a whole lunar year elapses over it, then he/she should pay the Zakah on it otherwise no. If both of you are required to pay Zakah on his/her own money, then it is permissible to pay it on the whole money when the earlier lunar year of the money of one of you elapses. In which case, the other one would be paying his/her Zakah in advance and this is permissible according to the view of the majority of the scholars.

As regards Zakah on the money that you borrowed from the government, then it is not an obligation to pay Zakah on it before a whole lunar year elapses over it. But if a whole lunar year elapses over it while it is in your possession, then if you have surplus money beyond your (basic) need – whether it is money, estate, car and the like – which may cover the government student loan, then you are obliged to pay Zakah on that borrowed money. However, if you do not have other money that may cover the loan, then you are not obliged to pay the Zakah on that amount according to many scholars. Nevertheless, it is better to pay Zakah on it to be on the safe side.

Allaah Knows best.