Ruling on Giving Zakah to the Poor in a Country Other Than One’s Own

Your Eminence! May Allah preserve you. Is it permissible to pay zakah in a country other than the zakah payer’s country, given that he knows a poor person in need of zakah in another country?
If transferring the zakah out of the country is distinguished by a Shari'ah-based merit, such as having relatives in another country, then there is no harm. However, without such a distinction, it is not permissible to transfer it from the country where the wealth is located, because the people of the country where the wealth is located have a stronger right to it than others. In fact, some scholars do not permit transferring it from the country where the wealth is located unless there are no eligible recipients of zakah in that country.
And with this we know the caution of the Shari'ah in such matters, but what should be asked about, now that we are in its time, is: the issue of the 'Id sacrifices, where people call for taking the money of Muslims in order to sacrifice it abroad. This is an incorrect call. Do not risk your religion; the 'Id sacrifice is one of the rituals of Allah.As Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: [Hajj:36] The 'Id sacrifice is an act of worship in which one draws near to Allah the Exalted by slaughtering it, and this act of drawing near is linked with prayer.Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Kawthar:2] And Allah the Exalted said: [Al-An'am:162-163]
In the 'Id sacrifice, a person remembers his Lord and draws near to Him by slaughtering it. The purpose is not the meat; the purpose is to establish the ritual and worship Allah the Exalted through the slaughter.Allah the Exalted said: [Hajj:37] Look at the guidance of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): He would take his 'Id sacrifice to the place of prayer to slaughter it there to display this ritual, and he would slaughter it with his own hand (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him). But if we give the money, where is the display of the ritual? Perhaps if people rush into this and throw themselves at it, there will be no 'Id sacrifice in the country, because it is easy for people to take two hundred, three hundred, or five hundred riyals out of their pocket and give it to this committee. It is easy for them. If they think this is like slaughtering it in their country, they are mistaken. And whoever issued a fatwa that this is like it or better is mistaken. Then, you do not know who will handle the slaughter of this money that goes abroad. It may be handled by an innovator whose innovation is a cause of disbelief, whose slaughter is not lawful. It may be handled by someone who does not pray. It may be handled by someone who does not know the conditions of the 'Id sacrifice, so he sacrifices a small animal or a defective one. He may sacrifice it after the time for the 'Id sacrifice has passed. He may not mention the name of Allah over it, either intentionally or out of forgetfulness. Then, even if all of this is absent and a hundred heads are presented to a person, and he slaughters for whom is this sacrifice? For which person among the people? I ask, for whom is this sacrifice? He does not intend it for so-and-so or so-and-so. It is as if it is money taken for charity; he takes a riyal from his pocket and gives it in charity. This is not correct.It must be specified: This is the 'Id sacrifice of so-and-so, son of so-and-so, otherwise it is not valid. It is not valid for you to gather a hundred heads.And you say: Slaughter in the name of Allah, slaughter, slaughter! For whom? If we assume that a hundred people gave you money and you slaughtered the first one, for whom do you intend it? For the last person or the first person, even though they do not know who is first and who is last? The person for whom the slaughter is performed becomes ambiguous, and it is not known who he is. So the matter is serious. The most important thing is to observe the ritual in the Islamic lands and not to take it to other countries, even if those other countries are Islamic. Allah the Mighty and Majestic is Wise. When the people of the homelands lost the ability to draw near to Allah with the sacrificial animals as the pilgrims do, He prescribed the 'Id sacrifice for them so that they would establish the rituals of Allah in their lands, just as the pilgrims established the rituals of Allah in Makkah. How do we overlook this great meaning just because we are benefiting our brothers?I say: Benefit your brothers, but with what? With money, with expenses, with clothes, with bedding, with tents, with whatever you want, with meat. Slaughter meat and send it to them. But a ritual of the rituals of Allah, where you leave drawing near to Allah with it and entrust it to so-and-so and so-and-so, whom you do not know.
I hope you, may Allah bless you, will warn all your brothers about this. In every gathering, alert the people to this.Let them not lose this ritual: [Hajj:36] The rituals of Allah are not to be let go to the right and left, and the 'Id passes over you as if you had not sacrificed.
I hope you will cooperate in righteousness and piety by alerting your brothers to this.And say: Praise be to Allah, the door is open. Send money to your brothers in other countries and slaughter, or slaughter it here, eat, and send them meat.Does not Allah, Glorified and Exalted, say: [Hajj:36] So he began with eating before feeding others. And do you eat from the one slaughtered in the farthest country from you? Absolutely not.

The issue of the sacrificial animal, may Allah bless you: There is hardship in Mina for the weak person, unlike the decisive person. Because there are people from our region who go to Mina and slaughter. And as soon as they come out of the place of slaughter, people grab at them: Give us, give us. But people are lazy, and they get tired when they see these meats. Perhaps on the second day it has a smell. So be careful not to give in a way that creates enmity. Be careful that you and the people of your region go and take a sacrificial animal for yourselves, and you go and move away and slaughter it in Muzdalifah or in any place. But do not slaughter it outside the Haram, because slaughtering it outside the Haram is not sufficient according to many scholars. It must be slaughtered within the boundaries of the Haram, in Muzdalifah, in the direction of al-Sharai', but within the miles, in any place.
And with this, this meeting ends. And Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You.