Is it permissible for a woman to give her zakah to her husband who has debts?

Question:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, this is a wife who has zakah due on her, and she wants to pay it. Her husband has some debts. Is she allowed to give him from the zakah that is due on her?

Answer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement among the scholars: is it permissible for a woman to give her zakah to her husband or not? Some scholars hold that she does not pay her zakah to her husband because her husband provides for her. If she gives it to him and he spends it on her, her zakah returns to her. So she does not give it to her husband lest it return to her and he spend it on her. And some scholars hold that it is permissible, and they cited as evidence the hadith of Zaynab al-Thaqafiyyah, the wife of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him). When he asked her to give him in charity from the jewelry she had, she asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). She said: "Indeed, 'Abdullah is asking me to give him from my charity." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered her to give him in charity. He ordered her to give him in charity and to give him from her charity. They said: The apparent indication is that this was zakah. But the correct view is that it was not zakah; rather, it was voluntary charity. It was voluntary charity; that is the apparent indication. Because...
...because she gave it to him so that he would provide for her and her children. And her children are not eligible to receive her zakah. The zakah of a father is not permissible for his child, neither for his descendants nor for his ascendants. If it had been zakah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have permitted her to give it to her husband and her children. This indicates that it was a voluntary gift and not zakah. And this is the stronger position, approximately. Yes.