Is it permissible to pay a portion of the zakah to a Qur'an memorization group?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to pay a portion of the zakah to a group for implementing the loan?
The Shaykh : He raised it.
The questioner : Paying a portion of the zakah.
The Shaykh : What is it attached to?
The questioner : Paying a portion of the zakah to a group for memorizing the Noble Qur'an, and if it is not permissible to pay it to them, what is the course of action? Knowing that I used to pay them a portion of the zakah for several years, even though this amount could be used to pay rewards for the students and salaries for the teachers within this association.
The Shaykh : As for if the group members are poor, there is no doubt that paying the zakah to them is permissible and sufficient, because they are among those entitled to zakah. And if they are wealthy and zakah is paid to them for reward and encouragement, this depends on whether seeking knowledge is included in the saying of Allah the Exalted, "and in the cause of Allah." If it is included, then paying it to them is sufficient. If it is not included, then paying it to them is not sufficient. So if the one who has been paying them for years did so believing that it is included in the saying of Allah the Exalted, "and in the cause of Allah," then he does not have to repeat it, but he should not return to this practice. And if he did it based on his own independent legal reasoning, I see that the precaution is to intend that what he previously gave was voluntary charity and to repeat the payment of the zakah.
The Shaykh : He raised it.
The questioner : Paying a portion of the zakah.
The Shaykh : What is it attached to?
The questioner : Paying a portion of the zakah to a group for memorizing the Noble Qur'an, and if it is not permissible to pay it to them, what is the course of action? Knowing that I used to pay them a portion of the zakah for several years, even though this amount could be used to pay rewards for the students and salaries for the teachers within this association.
The Shaykh : As for if the group members are poor, there is no doubt that paying the zakah to them is permissible and sufficient, because they are among those entitled to zakah. And if they are wealthy and zakah is paid to them for reward and encouragement, this depends on whether seeking knowledge is included in the saying of Allah the Exalted, "and in the cause of Allah." If it is included, then paying it to them is sufficient. If it is not included, then paying it to them is not sufficient. So if the one who has been paying them for years did so believing that it is included in the saying of Allah the Exalted, "and in the cause of Allah," then he does not have to repeat it, but he should not return to this practice. And if he did it based on his own independent legal reasoning, I see that the precaution is to intend that what he previously gave was voluntary charity and to repeat the payment of the zakah.
Source
دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام لعام 1414 هـ - 8 — binothaimeen.net (1:27:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.