Is zakaah due on a retirement pension?
Question

                I participated in a retirement pension scheme. Is zakaah due on the pension?.
Praise be to Allah.
    We have discussed the ruling on participating in retirement 
    pension schemes, and we stated that participation in these schemes 
    inevitably involves either dealing with a non-governmental organization, in 
    which case it is a kind of gambling, because the person does not know 
    whether he will take more than he paid or less than he paid, which is the 
    essence of gambling, or it involves participating in a government pension 
    scheme, which may not come under the same ruling because the government or 
    bayt al-maal is responsible for spending on the people if they are in need. 

    For more information please see the answer to question no.
    42567. 

    Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was 
    asked about retirement pensions – is zakaah due on the payments? He replied: 
    We think that no zakaah is due on the money that deducted from the salary 
    for the pension, because the person can only withdraw it if he meets certain 
    conditions, so it is like a debt that is owed by one who is in financial 
    difficulty, and there is no zakaah on debt that is owed by one who is in 
    financial difficulty. But if he takes possession of it, then in order to be 
    on the safe side he should pay zakaah for one year on it. There is nothing 
    wrong with taking it because it is in return for what the state took of his 
    earnings and saved it for him until it was needed. End quote. 

    Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen 
    (18/174). 

    And Allaah knows best.