The rents one receives during the season of Hajj

Q: Please advise us regarding the following issue, may Allah benefit you! I work in accommodating Muslims coming to perform Hajj or offer `Umrah (lesser pilgrimage). We rent the whole building from the landlord for one million riyals, which we pay in full. We rent out the apartments during the month of Ramadan and the three months of Hajj. During the other months of the year, we rent few apartments, because it is necessary for those coming to offer `Umrah to get visas from the embassy, which remains suspended during the first three months of year, the whole month of Shawwal, and during the first half of Dhul-Qa`dah. During these months the rentals fall into complete stagnation. What matters, may Allah reward you, is that we continue to pay the salaries of our workers and staff throughout the whole year. Throughout the year (about 300 days) we also pay to have water trucked in; during the Hajj season, the price of the water truck cargo increases threefold. We also pay electricity and telephone charges, and repaint the building each year. Our income from profits is only in the range of 8% or 10% of the value of the lease. Thus we ask you, by Allah, is the Zakah (obligatory charity) due on us or on the landlord of the building who receives his due right on the day of concluding the contract? Please advise us regarding this matter, may Allah benefit you, since Your Eminence and Your Fatwas are our only reference. May Allah bless you and your life. (Part No. 8; Page No. 242

A: A: Any net rental income you receive from the building throughout the whole year (minus expenses) should be added to your other money and you should pay Zakah on the total upon the passage of a Hawl (one lunar year calculated from the time a property reaches the minimum amount upon which Zakah is due), since the rent is considered to be the profit of your property. The ruling on dividends is that they should be added to the capital when paying Zakah. As for the other rent paid in full to the landlord of the building upon concluding the contract, it is Wajib on him to pay Zakah on what remains of it upon the passage of a Hawl if it reaches the Nisab (the minimum amount on which Zakah is due).May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.