Zakaah on shares
Question

                I work in the field of buying and selling Saudi shares, and the way I work is that I sell the share as soon as the price rises and I am able to make a profit, and I do not wait for reports about the companies’ profits. 

My question is: I bought some shares in the electrical company five months ago for 172 riyals per share. After I bought them, they went down to 147 riyals and have not yet gone back up to the purchase price. Is there any zakaah due on these shares? How should the zakaah be paid? Is it based on the purchase price or the current price which is 147?.
Praise be to Allah.
    These shares are now regarded as trade goods, because trade 
    goods are anything that is prepared for sale. So zakaah is due on them. 

    The zakaah on trade goods is worked out on the basis of their 
    value at the end of the year, whether it is more than the purchase price or 
    less. 

    See question no. 65515 

    Based on this, if these shares reach the nisaab, or they 
    reach the nisaab when added to the cash money that you have, then you should 
    pay zakaah on them according to their value on the day when the year ends. 

    Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said: 
The way in which zakaah 
    is paid on shares in companies is as follows: if the state undertakes the 
    mission of calculating and collecting the zakaah, then you have discharged 
    your responsibility, otherwise zakaah must be paid in the following manner: 
    they should be evaluated every year and one-quarter of one-tenth should be 
    paid, if the purpose of them is to trade. But if the purpose is investment, 
    then no zakaah is due on them, but zakaah is due on any profits they produce 
    if it is in the form of money and one year has passed. End quote. 

    Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 
    18/196 

    The Standing Committee was asked: Is there any zakaah on 
    shares and certificates? How should it be paid? 

    They replied: 
Zakaah is due on shares 
    and promissory notes if they represent money or trade goods, so long as the 
    one who is keeping the money is not going through hardship or delay payment 
    unduly. End quote. 

    Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 
    9/354

    The Standing Committee was also asked about shares through 
    which one buys land and real estate. 

    They replied: 

    The shares mentioned in the question are a kind of trade 
    goods, so zakaah must be paid on them, to be evaluated every year according 
    to their current value, not the purchase price. If the owner has money he 
    may pay from that, otherwise he should pay the zakaah for past years from 
    their value after selling them and taking the money. End quote. 

    Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 
    9/353 
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen 
    (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: Should zakaah on shares be based 
    on the official value of the share or on the market value, or what? 

    He replied: 

    Zakaah on shares and other trade goods should be based on the 
    market value. If it was worth one thousand at the time of purchase, then the 
    value rises to two thousand at the time when zakaah becomes due, then zakaah 
    should be based on the value of two thousand, because what matters is the 
    value of a thing when zakaah becomes due, not when it is bought. End quote. 

    Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 
    18/197 
It should be noted that 
    if trade goods are bought with gold or silver or cash (riyals, dollars or 
    other currencies), or with other goods, then the year for those goods starts 
    from the time when one acquired the wealth with which one bought them. Based 
    on this, the new year does not start from the time when one takes possession 
    of the new goods, rather it starts from the time when one acquired the 
    wealth with which one bought them. 

    See question no. 32715 
And Allaah knows 
    best.