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Fatwa CenterPaying the Zakaah Portion by Portion Throughout the Year
Question
Whether zakat has to disburse at once or may be given in parts like over some months or throughout the current year.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The basic principle is that it is an obligation to immediately pay the Zakaah after it becomes obligatory.
Al-Muhathab authored by ash-Shiraazi reads:
“Whenever it becomes due for a person to pay the Zakaah and he is able to pay it, then it is not permissible for him to delay it.
Because it is a right that must be disbursed to the human being; he was required to pay it, so it is not permissible for him to delay it, such as a deposit when its owner demands it. If he delays it [the Zakaah] while he is able to pay it, then he guarantees it because he delayed what he was obliged to pay off and while he was able to pay it, so he guarantees it just like the deposit.” [End of quote]
The footnote of Ad-Dasooki on Ash-Sharh al-Kabeer – in the Maaliki School of jurisprudence – when talking about paying the Zakaah after it has become obligatory – reads: “His [i.e. the author of Ash-Sharh al-Kabeer] saying: “(He must pay it) immediately, as for the Zakaat to remain with him, and whenever someone comes to him, he gives some of it to him, then this is not permissible.”
Based on this, whenever it becomes due for a person to pay the Zakaah, he is obligated to pay it immediately, and it is not permissible for him to delay it and pay it portion by portion throughout the year, nor is he permitted to pay it by installments over a period of several months.
For more benefit on Zakaah, please refer to Fataawa 165375, 401332, and 379973.
Allah knows best.
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