Is it permissible to waive a debt owed by a person in financial difficulty and count it as zakat on wealth?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: I lent a man a sum of money, and he was unable to repay it by the agreed date. Is it permissible for me to waive this debt from my zakat?
Answer:
No, I mean, if you are in despair of obtaining it, you make it zakah. This is not permissible. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: "And give zakah." It is a pillar of Islam; give it, pay it.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: I lent a man a sum of money, and he was unable to repay it by the agreed date. Is it permissible for me to waive this debt from my zakat?
Answer:
No, I mean, if you are in despair of obtaining it, you make it zakah. This is not permissible. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: "And give zakah." It is a pillar of Islam; give it, pay it.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 1122- هل يجوز إسقاط الدين عن المعسر وجعله من زكاة المال؟ - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.