Is it permissible to waive a debt from zakah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner asks: Is it permissible to waive a debt owed by a debtor, and have that count as zakah?
Answer:
No, no, it is not permissible to waive a debt as zakah, because Allah says, "And give zakah," and waiving a debt is not giving; it is merely a release, a release only. And the owner of this debt may be one who has despaired of recovering it, and he may find it to be a place for zakah. When he has despaired of it, or fears that it will not come, he makes it in place of zakah. This is not permissible. He should give the zakah from his own wealth, and when the debt comes to him, he pays zakah on it, unless it is owed by a wealthy person who is able to pay, in which case he pays zakah on it even if he has not received it. Yes.
The questioner asks: Is it permissible to waive a debt owed by a debtor, and have that count as zakah?
Answer:
No, no, it is not permissible to waive a debt as zakah, because Allah says, "And give zakah," and waiving a debt is not giving; it is merely a release, a release only. And the owner of this debt may be one who has despaired of recovering it, and he may find it to be a place for zakah. When he has despaired of it, or fears that it will not come, he makes it in place of zakah. This is not permissible. He should give the zakah from his own wealth, and when the debt comes to him, he pays zakah on it, unless it is owed by a wealthy person who is able to pay, in which case he pays zakah on it even if he has not received it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يجوز إسقاط الدين من الزكاة؟ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.