Arabic (Original)
أَنَّهُ قَالَ يُزَكِّي الرَّجُلُ مَالَهُ وَإِنْ كَانَ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الدَّيْنِ مِثْلُهُ؛ لَأَنَّهُ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ وَيَنْكِحُ فِيهِ قَالَ الشَّيْخُ وَالظَّوَاهِرُ الَّتِي وَرَدَتْ بِإِيجَابِ الزَّكَاةِ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ تَشْهَدُ لِهَذَا الْقَوْلِ بِالصِّحَّةِ وَهُوَ قَوْلُ الشَّافِعِيِّ فِي الْجَدِيدِ وَكَانَ يَقُولُ حَدِيثُ عُثْمَانَ يُشْبِهُ وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ أَنْ يَكُونَ إِنَّمَا أَمَرَ بِقَضَاءِ الدَّيْنِ قَبْلَ حُلُولِ الصَّدَقَةِ فِي الْمَالِ وَقَوْلُهُ هَذَا شَهْرُ زَكَاتِكُمْ يَجُوزُ أَنْ يَقُولَ هَذَا الشَّهْرُ الَّذِي إِذَا مَضَى حَلَّتْ زَكَاتُكُمْ كَمَا يُقَالُ شَهْرُ ذِي الْحِجَّةِ وَإِنَّمَا الْحِجَّةُ بَعْدَ مُضَيِّ أَيَّامٍ مِنْهُ أَخْبَرَنَا بِهَذَا الْكَلَامِ أَبُو سَعِيدٍ ثنا أَبُو الْعَبَّاسِ أَنْبَأَ الرَّبِيعُ قَالَ قَالَ الشَّافِعِيُّ فَذَكَرَهُ البيهقي ٧٦١٨: عن
English Translation
He said: 'A man pays zakah on his wealth even if he has debt equal to it, because he eats from it and marries with it.' The Shaykh said: The apparent texts that mandate zakah on wealth support the validity of this position. This is the position of al-Shafi'i in his new book. He used to say: The hadith of Uthman likely means, and Allah knows best, that he commanded repaying the debt before the zakah became due on the wealth. His saying 'this is the month of your zakah' may mean 'this is the month after which your zakah becomes due,' just as Dhul-Hijjah is called such even though the Hajj is after some days of it have passed. Abu Sa'id informed us of this statement from al-Shafi'i.