Is it permissible to pay zakat al-mal (the obligatory alms) in something other than money, i.e., by giving it as food to the poor?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is it permissible to pay zakat al-mal in something other than money, i.e., by giving it as food to the poor?
Answer:
This depends on the situation. If this is better, if it is better for the recipients that you buy their needs with it and give them to them, then there is no harm. But if money is better for them, you give them money. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is it permissible to pay zakat al-mal in something other than money, i.e., by giving it as food to the poor?
Answer:
This depends on the situation. If this is better, if it is better for the recipients that you buy their needs with it and give them to them, then there is no harm. But if money is better for them, you give them money. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [522 -954] هل يجوز إخراج زكاة المال من غير النقد -أي إخراجها طعاما فيعطى للمساكين؟ - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.