The Ruling on Giving Zakah to a Debtor Son
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : A woman asks: A woman has zakah from her wealth, and she has a son who is ill. He has an income, but it is not enough to pay off his debt. Can she give him the zakah?
The Shaykh : Yes, it is permissible for the mother, and for the father as well, if they have a son who has a debt he cannot pay, to pay off his debt from their zakah, because he is a debtor. However, it is better for the father to go to the person to whom the son owes the debt and say, "You are owed money by my son so-and-so; take it from me," rather than giving the money to the son. This is because some people are wasteful; if given money to pay off a debt, they spend it on other things. The scholars say that if a person is given zakah to pay off a debt, it is forbidden for him to spend it on anything else; he must spend it on paying off the debt. This applies unless the reason for the son's debt is maintenance that is obligatory upon his father.
That is, the son says his father is wealthy and asks his father for maintenance, but the father delays giving it. So the son needs it and borrows money for the maintenance. In this case, we say to the father: It is not permissible for you to give him from your zakah; rather, it is obligatory for you to pay off his debt from your own wealth. Why? Because providing for him is obligatory upon you. If we said it was permissible to give zakah in this case to pay off the son's debt, then every stingy father would withhold maintenance in order to force the son into debt. Then, when the son borrows, the father would say, "I will not pay off your debt from my zakah."
The Shaykh : Yes, it is permissible for the mother, and for the father as well, if they have a son who has a debt he cannot pay, to pay off his debt from their zakah, because he is a debtor. However, it is better for the father to go to the person to whom the son owes the debt and say, "You are owed money by my son so-and-so; take it from me," rather than giving the money to the son. This is because some people are wasteful; if given money to pay off a debt, they spend it on other things. The scholars say that if a person is given zakah to pay off a debt, it is forbidden for him to spend it on anything else; he must spend it on paying off the debt. This applies unless the reason for the son's debt is maintenance that is obligatory upon his father.
That is, the son says his father is wealthy and asks his father for maintenance, but the father delays giving it. So the son needs it and borrows money for the maintenance. In this case, we say to the father: It is not permissible for you to give him from your zakah; rather, it is obligatory for you to pay off his debt from your own wealth. Why? Because providing for him is obligatory upon you. If we said it was permissible to give zakah in this case to pay off the son's debt, then every stingy father would withhold maintenance in order to force the son into debt. Then, when the son borrows, the father would say, "I will not pay off your debt from my zakah."
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1411هـ - 4 — binothaimeen.net (43:25)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.