Deducting the costs of a domestic worker's surgery from zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I have a domestic worker who needed to undergo a surgical operation. I agreed with her husband that I would pay the costs of the operation and deduct them from her salary monthly. This has been done. His question is: May I count this amount as zakah, given that she is poor and needs assistance?
Answer:
You have already paid it, and the intention is made at the time of payment. You did not intend it as zakah when you paid it, so do not intend it as such after the payment. Either proceed with what you considered to be a loan to her, or count the wage and leave it for her as assistance for the operation. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I have a domestic worker who needed to undergo a surgical operation. I agreed with her husband that I would pay the costs of the operation and deduct them from her salary monthly. This has been done. His question is: May I count this amount as zakah, given that she is poor and needs assistance?
Answer:
You have already paid it, and the intention is made at the time of payment. You did not intend it as zakah when you paid it, so do not intend it as such after the payment. Either proceed with what you considered to be a loan to her, or count the wage and leave it for her as assistance for the operation. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ومن حيله ومكايده : الكلام الباطل والآراء المتهافتة والخيالات — islamhouse.com (1:16:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.