He says: If a son has a debt to his father, or the reverse, is the debt waived from the zakah money?

Question : He says: If a son has a debt to his father, or the reverse, is the debt waived from the zakah money?

Answer : Yes, this is an important issue: Is it permissible for a person to waive the debt owed by a poor person and count it as zakah? The answer is no, it is not permissible for a person to waive the debt of a poor person and consider it as zakah. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said, and this is without dispute. This is without dispute, meaning no one has disputed it. Why? Because the money in your hand is not like the money in the liability of another, especially since this person is not poor and the money may not come. How can you make the zakah of the present money, which is in its disposal, a debt that may or may not come? Therefore, it is not permissible to release the poor person from his debt and count it as zakah.