Is zakah given to one who is in debt due to a forbidden matter?

Question : He said (may Allah have mercy on him): “Except if his creditor is in disobedience to Allah.” How is that? A man, may Allah protect us from that, incurs many debts through gambling or buying tobacco.

Answer : So we do not give to him until he repents. Because if we gave to him, or paid off the debt he incurred in a forbidden matter, that would be assisting him in the forbidden, because he would return a second time and say, “Give to us.” If we prevent giving to him until he repents, there is benefit in that for him. But if it is said, “This man smokes tobacco, and if we gave to him, he would spend it on tobacco,” do we give to him? The answer is no, because this falls under the category of assisting in the forbidden. But if we know that the man needs it, then if the one in charge of his household is a trustworthy, reliable woman, we give to her and she buys his needs. And if we are not in that situation, it is possible for us to say to him, “O so-and-so, we have zakah for you. What is your need in your house? So that we may entrust you with receiving it and buying what you need, so that it does not enter upon you and you corrupt it.”