Is it permissible for a daughter to give her poor father from her zakah?

Question : A questioner asks, saying: Is it permissible for a daughter to give zakah to her elderly father who is unable to earn a living? And is it permissible for her to give it to her sister?

Answer : Yes. As for the first point, which is a child giving his or her zakah to a parent, we say: if the child is wealthy and can provide for his or her father from his or her own money, then it is not permissible to give the father the zakah; rather, it is obligatory to provide for the father from one’s own money. However, if the child is poor and cannot provide for the parent—such as a daughter who has jewelry she wants to pay zakah on, and she is unable to provide for her father, and her father is poor—then she may give him her zakah, meaning the zakah of the jewelry, because her father is among the poor, and whoever is among the poor is, by default, among those entitled to zakah. Likewise, giving zakah to a sister. He says: if the sister is poor, then her sister may give her from her zakah, and so with the rest of the relatives.