The Expenditure of Zakah.

The Shaykh : As for the third discussion regarding zakah, it is: Who are the recipients of zakah? Is a person free to give his zakah to anyone he sees who moves his heart, or are the recipients of zakah specific categories defined by the Shari'ah?
Answer: The second. Listen to the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: This means that Allah has made it obligatory upon us and clarified that this obligation comes from knowledge and wisdom, and Allah is All-Knowing, Wise. Give your zakah to any person who possesses one of these descriptions, and do not worry. Now, do you give it to your father if he is poor? No? Then our rule is flawed! I told you a moment ago: General texts remain general unless there is evidence to the contrary. This man has a poor father, and Allah has made him wealthy. He wants to give his father from the zakah. Is that sufficient or not? It is for the poor, and this man is poor, and my father is more deserving of my kindness. Now, if it does not contradict the text, we say: If anyone tells you that it is not permissible to give your zakah to your father, say: "Bring the evidence." Why? Because you have evidence, and you are a jurist. So I say: If a person favors himself with the zakah, it is as if he did not pay it. In other words, if giving the zakah results in the removal of something obligatory upon him, then the zakah is not binding. For example: This wealthy man and his poor father; it is obligatory for him to spend on his father from his own money. If this father needs ten thousand annually for maintenance, and the son has ten thousand in zakah, and he gives it to his father, he has removed ten thousand from his own obligation. In reality, he has not paid the zakah, because he protected his wealth with it. This is the aspect of specification. Based on this, we say: Give your zakah to all relatives whose maintenance is not obligatory upon you, or to those whose burdens you are not obligated to bear. As for this father we mentioned, if he incurs a debt, for example, if he hits someone with his car and the car is valued at five thousand, is it permissible to give your father five thousand for the cost of the car, or is it not permissible? It is permissible... you give him from your zakah for his debt, even if... Why? Because it is not obligatory for the son to bear his father's debts. Yes, it is obligatory for him to maintain him, but not his debts. Pay attention to this rule.
Is it permissible to spend zakah on education, repairing roads, building mosques, or building schools? No, it is not permissible, because He specified the recipients, and who commands and forbids? Allah, Mighty and Majestic. As for His saying, Exalted is He: the intended meaning is the warriors. It does not mean everything that brings one closer to Allah. If the intended meaning were everything that brings one closer to Allah, there would be no benefit in the restriction in His saying: . And we say: If we allowed people to spend their zakah in these charitable projects, the door of spending would be blocked, and people would spend their zakah in these projects, and no voluntary charity would remain from people. This would result in blocking a door of good. We do not wish to prolong this discussion; we will limit ourselves to what we have mentioned, and we ask Allah to make it sufficient.
And now, to the questions, and we ask Allah to grant us success in the truth.
The student: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
May Allah reward the honorable Shaykh with the best reward and benefit us all with what we hear.