If you are entrusted with giving zakah to a person and you find someone more deserving than him, do you give it to him?
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The questioner : He says: If a person appoints me to give the zakah of his wealth to a specific person, and then I find someone more deserving than him, is it permissible for me to give it to the second person?
The Shaykh : This is also one of the important issues. Yes. A man gives you his zakah and says, “Give it to so-and-so.” He names him for you. Then you come across a person who is poorer than him. Is it permissible to give it to the second one? I mean, or is it obligatory to give it to the one you were entrusted to give it to? The answer is the second one, meaning it is obligatory. If he says, “Take these dirhams and give them to so-and-so as his zakah,” thank you, it is not permissible to give it to anyone else, even if… But I build on this question another question. If this man who told me, “Give him this zakah,” if he were wealthy, yes, and the one who entrusted me, I do not know about him. Is it permissible to give it to him? No. No.
It is not permissible. So if he says, “Take these dirhams and give them as zakah to so-and-so,” and I know that so-and-so is not poor, then it is not lawful for me to give it to him. What do I do? Yes. I say to the one who entrusted me, “So-and-so is not eligible for zakah.” But now, so-and-so, whom I was ordered to give it to, may come to me and say, “You are envious. You cut off your livelihood. Why do you learn?” Yes. Is this possible or not? It is possible. I say to him, “I have helped you, and I have done you a favor.”
Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Help your brother whether he is wrongdoer or wronged.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, how do we help the wronged one? And how do we help the wrongdoer?” He said, “You prevent him from wrongdoing. Is that complete? That is how you help him. Or your help of him is that you prevent this zakah from reaching him, which is better than giving it to him, because that is helping him. Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : This is also one of the important issues. Yes. A man gives you his zakah and says, “Give it to so-and-so.” He names him for you. Then you come across a person who is poorer than him. Is it permissible to give it to the second one? I mean, or is it obligatory to give it to the one you were entrusted to give it to? The answer is the second one, meaning it is obligatory. If he says, “Take these dirhams and give them to so-and-so as his zakah,” thank you, it is not permissible to give it to anyone else, even if… But I build on this question another question. If this man who told me, “Give him this zakah,” if he were wealthy, yes, and the one who entrusted me, I do not know about him. Is it permissible to give it to him? No. No.
It is not permissible. So if he says, “Take these dirhams and give them as zakah to so-and-so,” and I know that so-and-so is not poor, then it is not lawful for me to give it to him. What do I do? Yes. I say to the one who entrusted me, “So-and-so is not eligible for zakah.” But now, so-and-so, whom I was ordered to give it to, may come to me and say, “You are envious. You cut off your livelihood. Why do you learn?” Yes. Is this possible or not? It is possible. I say to him, “I have helped you, and I have done you a favor.”
Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Help your brother whether he is wrongdoer or wronged.” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, how do we help the wronged one? And how do we help the wrongdoer?” He said, “You prevent him from wrongdoing. Is that complete? That is how you help him. Or your help of him is that you prevent this zakah from reaching him, which is better than giving it to him, because that is helping him. Yes, yes.
Source
دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام لعام 1406هـ - 5 — binothaimeen.net (1:27:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.