Paying the deceased's debt from zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Is the debt of a deceased person who left no estate paid off from zakah?
Answer:
This is a matter of consideration, and the scholars differ on it. The majority hold that zakah is not paid to settle the debt of a deceased person, because zakah is for the living and is paid to the living. The recipients of zakah are those who are alive and benefit from it, whereas the deceased has his debt settled from voluntary donations. If he has an estate, it is settled from his estate. If he has no estate, and one of his brothers or relatives wishes to pay it off on his behalf, that is a noble deed and it clears the deceased’s conscience.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
The questioner says: Is the debt of a deceased person who left no estate paid off from zakah?
Answer:
This is a matter of consideration, and the scholars differ on it. The majority hold that zakah is not paid to settle the debt of a deceased person, because zakah is for the living and is paid to the living. The recipients of zakah are those who are alive and benefit from it, whereas the deceased has his debt settled from voluntary donations. If he has an estate, it is settled from his estate. If he has no estate, and one of his brothers or relatives wishes to pay it off on his behalf, that is a noble deed and it clears the deceased’s conscience.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/264 — archive.org (7:23)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.