The Intended Poor Person
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Q: I have been entrusted with the oversight of a private family endowment, the founder of which (may Allah have mercy on him) specified that its revenue be distributed to the poor of the family, but did not elaborate on this. Given that the Shari'ah definition of the poor person is (one who finds nothing, or who may find less than half of his needs), and there is disagreement among the scholars, and it is known that at present there may be no one among the family members who fits this definition, but some have no salary and have enough for some of their needs, and some have a salary of less than two thousand riyals or slightly more, which does not meet their essential requirements. To put an end to the dispute and the varying legal opinions, we ask Your Eminence to issue a ruling on the Shari'ah criteria for the poor person at the present time, male or female, and whether assistance with marriage, compensation for debt, compensation for a disaster, or other such matters can be included under this. Please rule on this matter in detail so that we may remove the confusion for everyone, clear our conscience, and give every right-holder his right.
A: The poor person is one who finds nothing at all, or who finds less than half of his needs, while the needy person is one who finds most of his needs or half of them. So if a family member’s income is less than his needs, or if he is unable to afford the costs of marriage, he is given from the revenue of this endowment.
A: The poor person is one who finds nothing at all, or who finds less than half of his needs, while the needy person is one who finds most of his needs or half of them. So if a family member’s income is less than his needs, or if he is unable to afford the costs of marriage, he is given from the revenue of this endowment.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.