The ruling on giving the poor money or food
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, regarding the poor, what is better? Should I give them money, or should I buy them some food and foodstuffs and deliver them to them?
Answer:
The default is that you give them money from the zakah, meaning you give them money so they can dispose of it according to their need. However, if you know that he will misuse the money if you give it to him and not use it properly, there is no harm in buying for him with it items of food and drink or clothing to give to him. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, regarding the poor, what is better? Should I give them money, or should I buy them some food and foodstuffs and deliver them to them?
Answer:
The default is that you give them money from the zakah, meaning you give them money so they can dispose of it according to their need. However, if you know that he will misuse the money if you give it to him and not use it properly, there is no harm in buying for him with it items of food and drink or clothing to give to him. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/249 — archive.org (10:36)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.