Dropping a debt from the debtor with the intention of zakah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: I lent a person a sum of money for a known wage, but he was unable to repay it, and a lunar year has passed while I was aware of this. Is it permissible for me to give this money to him, intending it to be zakah from my wealth?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible to drop a debt as zakah, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded the giving of zakah, meaning paying it to those in need. Dropping a debt is neither giving nor paying. Rather, when he saw that this person was poor and might not be able to repay, he said, "I will make it zakah." No, this is not valid; this is not valid. Yes.
He says: I lent a person a sum of money for a known wage, but he was unable to repay it, and a lunar year has passed while I was aware of this. Is it permissible for me to give this money to him, intending it to be zakah from my wealth?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible to drop a debt as zakah, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded the giving of zakah, meaning paying it to those in need. Dropping a debt is neither giving nor paying. Rather, when he saw that this person was poor and might not be able to repay, he said, "I will make it zakah." No, this is not valid; this is not valid. Yes.
Source
الصيام آداب وأحكام — islamhouse.com (1:10:50)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.