Young men from Kuwait have a zakah fund, and they receive letters from abroad requesting assistance.

The questioner : As for us, in the zakah committee, we have come.

The Shaykh : As for us, what is it?

The questioner : In a committee, a zakah committee.

The Shaykh : A zakah committee.

The questioner : Letters come to us from...

The Shaykh : Excuse me, what is this zakah committee?

The questioner : These are young men in the district of... they set up...

The Shaykh : A zakah fund specific to a group of young men, with no connection to the state.

The questioner : No, no connection.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : Letters come from outside Kuwait requesting assistance, in case they are fighting or being oppressed. I mean, do we disburse to them from the zakah funds, among the charities?

The Shaykh : Did you not attend the lesson yesterday?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : You did not attend! And did you not hear a word about this issue?

The questioner: No...

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : For the da'wah.

The Shaykh : Yes, I have spoken here more than once that it is not permissible to disburse zakah except in one of the eight categories.

Another questioner : Praise be to Allah.

Those present : All of them: May Allah have mercy on you.

The Shaykh : So the eight categories are all clear and distinct, but the second to last of them, which is His saying—Exalted is He—, causes difficulty for some of the contemporary writers and Islamic preachers today, and they interpret this phrase with a broad meaning. And this expansion in interpretation is, in my belief, one of the innovations of matters; because the meaning of does not go beyond jihad in the cause of Allah, and hajj in the cause of Allah, and more than that was not mentioned in the interpretation of the pious predecessors. And when that is the case, it is not permissible to disburse zakah funds except in the categories mentioned in this verse, including jihad in the cause of Allah, and hajj to the House of Allah the Sacred. As for charitable projects, these must be established from the expenses of donations from funds other than the obligatory zakah funds; because the verse, which you all know, , begins with "inna" (only), which is a tool of restriction, as if the verse means and says: Do not disburse the obligatory zakah except in these eight categories. And without a doubt, what you asked about is not a category among the eight. However, if there is a legitimate jihad taking place, then it is in the cause of Allah without a doubt, or if there is a poor man, for example, who cannot afford hajj or is in need of assistance, then I give him from the money what enables him to perform hajj to the House of Allah the Sacred; then it is in the cause of Allah. This is the answer to what you asked.