Ask an Alim

Wa Alaykumussalam

I will answer your question according to what I understood.

First of all, why would you need to count the lost or used money (part of the interest) to be given to charity? If you meant the lost or used money from the capital amount, be counted as charity, this wouldn’t happen unless you intended for it to be right from the beginning.

If the amount was used or lost you can place some amount of the profit in the fixed amount if the amount belongs to you. But if the whole amount belongs to charity then the consent of all people involved in it is required. But if it is your personal account you can use it to make up your capital deposited.

If khums has been paid on the original amount which was deposited, then there will be no khums on it next time but the profit if counted as surplus at the end of year, it will be eligible for khums when your khums date arrives.

Below rulings are regarding khums according to Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

Ruling 1790. A person who has a number of lines of business – for example, with his capital he has bought [and trades in] sugar and rice – in the event that all the lines of his business are the same in business matters such as income and outcome, book keeping, and profit and loss, he must pay khums on the amount that exceeds his living expenses for one year. In the event that he gains profit from one line and a loss from another, he can offset the loss from that line with the profit from the other. However, if he has two different lines of business – for example, he trades as well as farms – or, if he has one line of business but the profit and loss are calculated separately from each other, then in these two cases, he cannot, based on obligatory precaution, offset the loss of one with the profit of the other.

Ruling 1791. A person can deduct from his profit the expenses he incurs in making profit – such as brokerage and transportation costs – and the same applies to any damage done to his tools and equipment, and it is not necessary for him to pay khums on that amount.

Ruling 1800. If a person does not make any profit at the beginning of a year and spends out of his capital but then makes some profit before the year’s end, he can deduct the amount he had taken from his capital from the profit he earned.

Read in detail on: www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2280/

If you have made a Nadhr that you will be giving all the profit in charity, and have recited the formula of Nadhr, then the whole profit must be given in charity without deduction but if you haven’t made a Nadhr, then it is in your hand as long as the money belongs to you and you are the owner.

Allah knows the best

May Allah(swt) grant you success

Wassalam,

Syed Haider