Zakah on money lent to a merchant who later went bankrupt

Q 4: I invested 240,000 riyals with As-Sani` to be invested on 12 refrigerators. Each refrigerator costs 20,000 riyals. After a week of paying the money at the office in Riyadh, they declared bankruptcy. This was in 1414 A.H. And I have not heard anything from them for six years now. Also, I entered in a partnership for selling land in 1414 A.H. With a real estate office in Riyadh. I paid 30,000 riyals, but I did not benefit from this (Part No. 8; Page No. 344) investment for six years as the funds have been frozen. I do not know whether they will be returned to me or not. So, how should I pay Zakah (obligatory charity) on these sums of money? Should I pay Zakah after receiving them and the passage of a Hawl (one lunar year calculated from the time a property reaches the minimum amount upon which Zakah is due), or for the past years of the entire period?

A 4: If the case is as you have mentioned, it is not Wajib on you to pay Zakah of these investments until they are in your possession and a Hawl passes. This is because the first sum of money is owed to you by someone who is bankrupt, and you do not know whether the second sum of money will be returned to you or not. May Allah grant us success. May Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and his Companions!