Is it better to give zakah to the needy abroad or to the people of the country?

Question : He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, the condition of Muslims today is not hidden from you, with the wars, famines, and trials that our brothers in religion and creed are facing. Is it better for us to pay the zakah to them, or is it better for us to look for those who are entitled to it here in our own country? Which is better, and how can a person seek the best in such a situation?

Answer : It is better to give zakah to the people of the country if they are eligible. The scholars said that if the people of the country are not eligible, it should be distributed in the nearest countries to them. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to Mu'adh ibn Jabal when he sent him to Yemen , and because it is not good for poor people or debtors to be right in front of us, watching our wealth and seeing us enjoying blessings, while we pay our zakah to other people. This is not the preferred course nor the most appropriate one. It is something that causes our brothers who are with us and in our homelands to hold resentment against us, saying, "How is it that the zakah of their wealth is spent in distant lands while we are in need?"
The Shari'ah, neighborly rights, and reason all indicate that the zakah-eligible people in your country are more deserving than the zakah-eligible people abroad. As for our brothers abroad, feeding their hungry is an obligatory collective duty (fard kifayah), but it is not from the zakah. It is a collective obligation that must be fulfilled from our wealth without using zakah. The right of the one who comes to you (al-jā'ī) is in your wealth, even if he is not in your country, provided he is a Muslim. Some people have expanded on this issue based on emotion, not based on the requirements of the Shari'ah or reason.
Emotion has led some people to give their zakat al-fitr, the bodily zakah, to distant people. Indeed, this emotion has led some to slaughter their sacrifices and send money to have their sacrifices slaughtered in a place they do not know where it is. Glory be to Allah, where is the Shari'ah? Follow the Shari'ah, not emotion. From the perspective of the Shari'ah, you are the manager of your wealth; you dispose of it as you see fit. From the perspective of the Shari'ah, you are the one who manages it. Who manages the Shari'ah? Allah the Exalted. It is taken from their rich and returned to their poor. The zakat al-fitr is prescribed to be distributed on the morning of the day of Eid, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. It is to be paid before the people go out to pray. If you send it to a distant place, you do not know when it will reach them; perhaps it will not reach them until after the days of Eid. The amount is a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg). Let us suppose your children and family amount to fifty sa' that your country can bear. How do you send it abroad?
Regarding the udhiyah (the 'Id sacrifice), is the intention the meat, bones, and skins? Or is the intention the mindfulness of Allah the Exalted and displaying the rituals in Islamic lands? It is the second, not the first. If you send money to buy a sacrifice in a distant place where you do not know who is buying the sacrifice, it may be that the buyer does not pray. If one who does not pray slaughters it, your sacrifice and anything else will not benefit you, and its meat is forbidden (haram). Perhaps it is slaughtered after the days of slaughter have passed. Perhaps they buy for you something that is not valid, and you do not know. Perhaps they do not buy a sacrifice for you at all, saying, "The money is more beloved to us than the meat." So distribute your money. If you send the price of the sacrifice to a distant place, look at what you miss. First, you miss what Allah commanded before feeding the poor, which is eating from it. He said . He started with eating. Will you eat from a sacrifice slaughtered in a place far from you? No, you will not eat from it. And eating from it takes precedence over feeding others.
Second, he said: Mentioning the name of Allah on the sacrificial animal. You yourself feel that you have slaughtered this animal and taken its life, in exaltation of Allah and drawing near to Him. Will this great and noble meaning be in your heart if you slaughter it far away from you? No, it is impossible. Mentioning the name of Allah on the sacrificial animal is intended . So that they may send it to distant lands where it benefits people. Is this verse, or not? What did our Lord, the Exalted and Majestic, say? In the name of Allah, not in the name of anyone else. If you said “In the name of Allah and the name of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him),” it would become forbidden. In the name of Allah, so that He may be remembered .
O students of knowledge, O our brothers, advise the common people who have nothing but emotion. They rush forward like the rushing of camels. They are led by ignorant people. Advise them. "Their meat will not reach Allah, nor their blood." Our sacrifices are here, our zakat al-fitr is here, our wealth zakah is here. Our brothers have a right upon us that we help them with what we can of our wealth. This is the correct path.