Purchasing food items with zakah for the needy
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The questioner asks: Is it permissible for us to buy food items or luxury goods for the person we intend to give zakah to, in the case where he says he will spend the amount in a way that Allah the Exalted does not approve of, because he is not upright?
The Shaykh:
If the poor person does not manage things well, and perhaps if you give him the zakah he will dispose of it in an inappropriate manner, then it is better that you buy for him with it the items he needs, such as food, clothing, and the like, and hand them to him. However, if he manages things well, then you give him the zakah and he disposes of it for himself. And if this needy person does not manage things well but has a guardian who monitors him and spends on his behalf, then you pay the zakah to his guardian so that he manages it for him. Yes.
The questioner asks: Is it permissible for us to buy food items or luxury goods for the person we intend to give zakah to, in the case where he says he will spend the amount in a way that Allah the Exalted does not approve of, because he is not upright?
The Shaykh:
If the poor person does not manage things well, and perhaps if you give him the zakah he will dispose of it in an inappropriate manner, then it is better that you buy for him with it the items he needs, such as food, clothing, and the like, and hand them to him. However, if he manages things well, then you give him the zakah and he disposes of it for himself. And if this needy person does not manage things well but has a guardian who monitors him and spends on his behalf, then you pay the zakah to his guardian so that he manages it for him. Yes.
Source
مجالس رمضان 1429هـ - 02 — alfawzan.live (19:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.