In our country we have been affected by war and we were expelled from our land 23 years ago. Praise be to Allah, my father and I are settled now and we have a business. We borrowed money in order to settle and start a business, the value of which was 1 million. When we worked out the value of zakaah that we owe on the property and trade goods that we have in our possession, it was estimated to be 7 million, and the trade goods on which zakaah is due are worth 5 or 6 million. 
My questions are: 
1. Are we required to pay zakaah, as we have not paid it all these years because we were not able to pay off the debt of 1 million? Was it correct for us not to pay zakaah?
2. We do not have any cash now, if we are required to pay zakaah. We helped a brother of ours to pay off a debt he owed, so that he could pay off the borrowed amount without paying the interest that had been agreed upon. Is it possible for us to waive this debt and thus pay off the zakaah that we owe?
3. We own some property in the country where the war was, that we took possession of after the war ended, and we are planning to sell this property in order to pay off debts and so that we can buy a house in the place where we live now. Is this property subject to zakaah?.

I embraced Islam -praise be to Allah- and now I want to keep myself chaste, but my parents think that the most suitable age of marriage is not until twenty-five or preferably twenty-eight. Even worse than that, one of them thinks that there is nothing wrong with friendship and relationships outside of marriage - Allah forbid. The matter is extremely difficult and I do not know how to talk to them about this matter. I want to keep myself chaste; I want to marry a man who will help me to adhere to my religion, a man who will stand beside me and help me, a man who will live with me, because I am living far away from my parents. They are divorced and each one lives in a different city. I do not know how to explain these details to them in order to convince them that I should get married early; rather they think that getting married at an early age is something that is not appropriate. I am the only daughter of my parents, hence I do not want to disobey them and I do not want to upset them; I do not want them to forsake me either. I want at least to do the marriage contract, then delay consummation until Allah wills.

My questions are:

1. Is it permissible for me to do the marriage contract but delay marriage and the waleemah (wedding feast) and consummation for five years, for example?

2.  Do I have to repeat the marriage contract in front of my family later on and pretend that I was not married? Or is that regarded as coming under the heading of lying? I hope you can advise me because I do not know what to do.
 

I live and work in UK. In order to get extra welfare benefits to help pay my rent and local council taxes (on top of national taxes) I am showing less income (earnings). By doing so I get extra money which helps pay various bills and I save some as well. Is this permissible? Is this income Haram? Is the whole amount of benefit I get Haram or parts?

How does participating in Hajj affect the life of a Muslim?

Can a muslim pray for his non-mulsim mother who has passed away?

Is it permissible to ask the Muslims -when meeting with them- about the state of their faith or their hearts? One of them said to me that this is a matter of the unseen and that it is not appropriate to ask about it.

For how long does Allah forgive a person's sin? If he repents and seeks forgiveness from his sin, then goes and commits the same sin again, then he seeks forgiveness again then commits the same sin again, and so on, does Allah forgive him or does that mean that he is not sincere towards Allah, especially if he repeats that sin after a short while, but he does not stop seeking forgiveness?

How do we as Muslims living in the west maintain an Islamic Education for our children. Primary and secondary education up to the age of 15/16 may be provided in Muslim schools (which are also very expensive), but as for Higher Education there is no such Islamic Institute. 

Even on the secondary school level on the agenda of Curriculum, we do not have books that deal with the branches of knowledge that are available in secular institutes, such as; Political science, Sociology, Psychology, Pedagogy. Please advise on how we should go about bringing about an Islamic Education system for our Youth in the west (bearing in mind that it is near impossible for us to migrate to Arab/Muslim countries because of the restrictions on immigration etc.).

I have a question about some terminology that I would like you to explain to me. In some audio lectures I hear words such as (a marfoo' hadith) or  (a maqtoo' hadith)..

What is the ruling on eating the food (rice, meat, chicken or cake) that is given to us by a Christian friend that he made for his birthday or for Christmas or the Christian New Year? What is your opinion on congratulating him by saying, "Insha Allaah you will continue to do well this year" so as to avoid saying Kull 'aam wa antum bi khayr (approx. "season's greetings") or "Happy New Year" etc?

Can we perform dhikr congregationally and in unison? If yes, when, where, how, and at what time? If no, what about the numerous hadîth stating thet the Companions used to remember Allah in groups? [For instance: Riyâd as-Salihîn of Imam al-Nawawî (Arabic & English) under the topic "On Remembrance in Company" (chapter 246, page 661)]
 

I intended to do Hajj this year, but my wife is breastfeeding, so I decided to delay Hajj until next year, in sha Allah. Please note that my financial situation is good, praise be to Allah. Do I have to do anything?