Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Regarding your husband’s case, taking brokerage commission is permissible in Islam and the money he earns from it halal (lawful). Hence, paying for Umrah from it is permissible.
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
As long as what your husband does is permissible, his salary is also permissible. It is halal to do this real estate side job that you mentioned and his commission from it is also permissible. T
hen, Umrah can be performed using this money from real estate brokerage commission as well as from the salary of any halal job.
What he gives (the 2.5% of the commission) is sadaqah (optional charity) and it will be, inshaa’ Allah, rewarded by Allah Almighty.
If he intended to give it as Zakah, he must make the intention (which needs not be told to the poor) that he is giving partial Zakah in advance and at the end of the year he should calculate the due Zakah and distribute the balance. Of course, the recipient must also be a really deserving poor or needy.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.