The categories to whom zakah is distributed
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May Allah forgive you, O honorable Shaykh! Some people give me a large sum of money to distribute to those who are entitled to zakah. What are the conditions that make a man eligible to receive zakah?
You know that the people entitled to zakah are eight,Allah the Exalted said: [At-Tawbah: 60] The poor and the needy are those who do not find enough to sustain them for a year.For example: For example, a person has a salary of three thousand, but his expenses are not covered unless he has four thousand. This person is among those entitled to zakah. We give him twelve thousand, is that not so? His salary is three thousand and his expenses are four thousand; how much does he need each month? One thousand. So we give him twelve thousand for the year.
And the debtors are those who have debts and cannot pay them off. They are also among those entitled to zakah, so their debts are paid off for them.And we have two ways to pay off their debts: The first way: We give them the money, and then he pays it to the creditor.
And the second way: Or we pay the creditor directly. Both are valid.
But which is better: Do we give the debtor who is being pursued so that he pays the creditor, or do we go to the creditor and give him the money without giving it to the debtor?This requires a detailed explanation: If the debtor is a man we know to be careful about clearing his conscience, and if we give him the money and say, "This is to pay off your debt," and he goes and pays it off, then it is better to give it to the debtor rather than the creditor; so that his heart is not broken if we pay it off for him, and so that there is no showing off by the giver.
But if the debtor is a man who is careless, and if we gave him the money to pay it off, he would not pay it off, then in that case we turn away from him and give it to the creditor, and his debt is thereby cleared.
As for the traveler, he is the one whose journey has been cut off and his provisions have run out, so we give him what will take him to his home.
The questioner: Sometimes, O Shaykh, he has a car worth, for example, forty thousand riyals, and he has a debt of fifty thousand riyals, and he has a salary of three thousand riyals that is sufficient for him. He asks: Am I a debtor or a person in debt?The Shaykh: In any case, if he has already bought it, the value of the car or the remaining value of the car is paid off for him.But if he is going to buy it and says: I need the car.We said: Buy it.So he said: I will buy it for fifty thousand.We say: We will not give you fifty thousand, because you do not need fifty thousand, since a car worth twenty thousand is sufficient for you. There is a difference between having bought it and becoming a debtor, or intending to buy it. If he intends to buy it, we do not give him more than what is sufficient for him. But if he has already bought it and the money is established as a debt in his liability, we pay it off for him.
The questioner: And if he has properties, O Shaykh, for example a farm or another property, and he has a debt of, for example, one hundred thousand riyals?The Shaykh: He sells from his property what is sufficient to pay off his need.
You know that the people entitled to zakah are eight,Allah the Exalted said:
Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakah] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the [stranded] traveler
إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْعَامِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَالْغَارِمِينَ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِAnd the debtors are those who have debts and cannot pay them off. They are also among those entitled to zakah, so their debts are paid off for them.And we have two ways to pay off their debts: The first way: We give them the money, and then he pays it to the creditor.
And the second way: Or we pay the creditor directly. Both are valid.
But which is better: Do we give the debtor who is being pursued so that he pays the creditor, or do we go to the creditor and give him the money without giving it to the debtor?This requires a detailed explanation: If the debtor is a man we know to be careful about clearing his conscience, and if we give him the money and say, "This is to pay off your debt," and he goes and pays it off, then it is better to give it to the debtor rather than the creditor; so that his heart is not broken if we pay it off for him, and so that there is no showing off by the giver.
But if the debtor is a man who is careless, and if we gave him the money to pay it off, he would not pay it off, then in that case we turn away from him and give it to the creditor, and his debt is thereby cleared.
As for the traveler, he is the one whose journey has been cut off and his provisions have run out, so we give him what will take him to his home.
The questioner: Sometimes, O Shaykh, he has a car worth, for example, forty thousand riyals, and he has a debt of fifty thousand riyals, and he has a salary of three thousand riyals that is sufficient for him. He asks: Am I a debtor or a person in debt?The Shaykh: In any case, if he has already bought it, the value of the car or the remaining value of the car is paid off for him.But if he is going to buy it and says: I need the car.We said: Buy it.So he said: I will buy it for fifty thousand.We say: We will not give you fifty thousand, because you do not need fifty thousand, since a car worth twenty thousand is sufficient for you. There is a difference between having bought it and becoming a debtor, or intending to buy it. If he intends to buy it, we do not give him more than what is sufficient for him. But if he has already bought it and the money is established as a debt in his liability, we pay it off for him.
The questioner: And if he has properties, O Shaykh, for example a farm or another property, and he has a debt of, for example, one hundred thousand riyals?The Shaykh: He sells from his property what is sufficient to pay off his need.