[Zakat of Rented Shops]

Answer—and Allah is the Grantor of success and aid:
This issue is among the matters of ijtihād regarding which the scholars say: “Every mujtahid is correct.” Imām al-Hādī Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥusayn—may Allah be pleased with him—gave an opinion in it that the scholars of the Hādawī madhhab, may Allah be pleased with them, followed—and he was right and they were right—namely: that zakat is obligatory on such income-generating assets. They expressed this ruling absolutely, without consideration of whether the rent is small or great.
Another group of scholars said: There is no zakat at all on income-generating assets.
I have been informed of one of the contemporary scholars that he would guide those who asked about such cases to give either one-tenth (10%) of the rent or one quarter of one-tenth (2.5%) of what was obtained in rent for the entire year; and I think he offered this as guidance and counsel, not as a fatwa of obligation.
This guidance is a middle solution between the two preceding opinions—namely, the view of al-Hādī that obligates zakat on the principal (the shops themselves), and the view of the others who say there is no zakat at all on income-generating assets.
In this solution, its proponent considered the position of al-Hādī—peace be upon him—and preserved the sanctity of his madhhab. As we said earlier, the matter is one of ijtihād, and every mujtahid in it is correct. These are three approaches, and the best of affairs is the middle way.
The third approach to which some contemporary scholars guided is a dispensation that suffices whoever adopts it, and it is adequate for him. Such middle-way solutions may suffice in ijtihādī issues for which no proof has come from the Wise Lawgiver—when sound reasoning calls for them, as here. For in what we cited from some scholars there is guidance to what they said:
1 - It accords with the saying of the Exalted: “O you who have believed, spend from the good things which you have earned and from that which We have produced for you from the earth.” [al-Baqarah:267].
The owner of the shops has, in his year, earned the rent of that year; and what is meant in the verse is to give out a portion of what a person has earned. The Messenger—May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—has clarified that this portion is one quarter of one-tenth (2.5%) in trade goods and the like, or one-tenth (10%) or half of one-tenth (5%) in what the earth yields, etc.
If the owner of the shops gives one quarter of one-tenth (2.5%) of what he earned, he has complied with the command mentioned in the verse; and if he gives one-tenth (10%), then likewise.
2 - It preserves the sanctity of the madhhab of the Imām of the Imāms, al-Hādī ila al-Haq, Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥusayn—may Allah be pleased with him—and then preserves the madhhab of those scholars who followed him in this.
3 - It provides ease, facilitation, and a dispensation for owners of income-generating assets, in accordance with His saying, Exalted is He: “and He has not placed upon you in the religion any hardship,” [al-Ḥajj:78], and His saying, Exalted is He: “Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship,” [al-Baqarah:185], and in accordance with what came from the Prophet—May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—such as his saying, “I was sent with the upright, easygoing religion,” and his saying, “Make things easy and do not make them difficult…” (hadith).
4 - It takes into account the general welfare—namely, that of the poor and the needy, and so on.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1