Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on various rulings of Khums
The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Wednesday, the 26th of Rajab. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discussed the concept of “Ma’unah” in relation to Khums, and said: There is a narration from Imam al-Jawad, peace be upon him, related to Khums, that says, Khums is what remains after the deduction of living expenses, that is, there is no Khums on “Ma’unah”.
Explaining the term “Ma’unah”, his Eminence said: The apparent meaning of “Ma’unah” is that which is consumed, and in another narration, it is also stated, “in every year”, which means that Ma’unah is only applied to the expenses of any given year.
He went on to say: The Divine Lawmaker has mentioned Ma’unah, but has not defined it, so to understand its meaning, we must refer to the Urf (general opinion) and see what it describes as Ma’unah.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi then continued: There are two stipulations mentioned. No khums on Ma’unah as long as it is related to the same year. So, for example, someone buys an amount of rice equivalent to the consumption of two years of his family from the money reserved for the living expenses of the current year. In such a situation, there is no khums on the amount of rice corresponding to the consumption of the current year, but he must pay khums on the amount of rice related to the next year.
Regarding the ruling of khums on dowry, his Holiness said: Since dowry is not mentioned in narrations, we have to see what is considered as an example of consumption for that year, and it is calculated for every year. For example, if someone buys a dowry for his daughter from the current year’s living expenses, who will use them as household items whenever she gets married, and it is not clear whether her marriage will be this year or in the next few years, then these goods should be counted as this year’s Ma’unah. With these two conditions, if Urf considers them Ma’unah of this year, there will be no khums on them.
