Is zakah obligatory on a debt owed to the father?

The questioner : I have a sum of fifty thousand riyals, and I gave it to one of my sons to burn. When I told someone to take the zakah on my behalf, he said, "I have lost it, and I will give you money from it later." Does the zakah return to me or not, since I placed it there and it is not with me?

The Shaykh : This is like the first question in reality. It appears from the question that his father spent the money, the money went out, and it remained as a debt on him. If the debt is on the father, some scholars say that there is no zakah on the debt owed to the father, because a son cannot demand the debt from his father. It is like a debt owed by someone who is unable to pay, so it is not obligatory for a person to pay zakah on a debt owed by his father, because if he wanted to demand it from his father or claim it, he would not be able to do so legally. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Some scholars said that if the debt is on the father and the father did not intend to take possession of it, it becomes a liability on him, so it is obligatory to pay its zakah. The preferred view is that a person should pay the zakah on the debt owed by his father, especially if his father is wealthy and would easily give it to his son if he asked for it. In that case, it is recommended that zakah be obligatory on it. This is better and more appropriate: to pay the zakah on the debt owed by his father, unless the father is unable to pay. If he is unable to pay, he is like other debtors who are unable to pay, and zakah is not obligatory on the debts owed to him.
This question reminded me of a question from last night. I would like, if the questioner is present, for him to say that he took money from a person and got married with it. Is his marriage valid? We explained last night that his marriage is valid and there is no blame on him, but he must seek the forgiveness of the owner of the money he took from him. I say now that he must seek the forgiveness of the owner of the money he took from him, unless the owner of this money is someone for whom it is obligatory to provide for his last wife, meaning someone for whom it is obligatory to marry his last wife because he is obligated to provide for her. In that case, he does not have to seek his forgiveness, because Hind bint 'Utbah, the wife of Abu Sufyan, said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "O Messenger of Allah, Abu Sufyan is a stingy man who does not give me enough maintenance for myself and my child." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: The scholars of knowledge indicated by this that for every person whose maintenance is obligatory on someone, and this person does not fulfill the obligation for him, it is permissible for the one who is entitled to maintenance to take from his wealth the amount of the obligatory maintenance. So I hope the questioner pays attention to this exception.

The questioner : And it is possible to consider the debt he owes as a shortcoming and intelligence. And it is possible to consider the debt he owes as a reduction in zakah?

The Shaykh : The truth is that I did not understand this question well, but if the questioner means that it is permissible for me to deduct from the debt the amount of the zakah that is due on the money I have in my hand, if he means this, it is not permissible. For example, if a person has money in his hand, and the zakah on this money is one thousand riyals, the zakah on the money in his hand is one thousand riyals, and he has a debt of one thousand riyals owed to a poor person, and he says, "I will forgive the debt of this poor person, which is one thousand riyals, in lieu of the zakah that is due on me," we say that this is not permissible and it does not clear his conscience. It has been mentioned before that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah stated that there is no dispute in this issue.
And the reason is also that the evidence for this issue is from the saying of Allah the Exalted: So the debt, in relation to the item, is bad, and the "bad" in the verse is that which is forced upon the bad, so it is not permissible for a person to forgive a debt and count it toward the zakah that is due on him. Yes.