What is the ruling on transferring wealth zakah to be spent in another country?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ... upon us.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : I have a note regarding the dawn prayer, because this is wealth zakah, meaning money is distributed to the people of the city, to every one of them, based on the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):Sahih al-Bukhari 1395.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Then one of the brothers asked me and said to me, "I am here the head of the zakah committee, and I am responsible for delivering these zakah payments to the West Bank. Does this mean that in this job I am committing a violation, such that I am committing a sin, or is there an exception in the legal ruling?"
The Shaykh : What are the zakahs being asked about?
The questioner : Wealth zakah, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The annual one, not?
The questioner : The annual one, yes, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Not zakat al-fitr.
The questioner : It is not zakat al-fitr.
The Shaykh : As for the permissibility of transferring it, it is permissible.
The questioner: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The Shaykh : However, in that, the most needy are considered first, then the nearest.
The questioner : The most needy first, then the nearest.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Not the nearest first, then the most needy.
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : Ah, yes, O Shaykh. Now, what is the reasoning behind the hadith:? Do you mean all Muslims, or the country where they are?
The Shaykh : This cannot mean a country; it can mean a region.
The questioner : A region.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: Ah.
The Shaykh : For example, the region intended in this hadith is Yemen, to whom Mu'adh was sent.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And Yemen is known to contain many lands, so when the collector collects the alms, he does not collect them from a single country.
The questioner : Yes, correct.
The Shaykh : Ah, and these alms are collected in the treasury of the Muslims.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : Then they are distributed to the eligible recipients.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : Therefore, the interpretation of the hadith is that it is taken and distributed in the same country.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : If the intended meaning of "country" is other than the other countries within the same region, then this is a specific, concrete error.
The questioner : Yes, my Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And if the intended meaning is broader than that, i.e., the region, then we say that this was not possible in those days, because it was not possible for a person at that time to distribute the alms of Yemen in the Hijaz, or the alms of the Hijaz in Yemen, due to the lack of available means.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : This is from one aspect, and from another aspect,[Al-Hujurat 49:10], so there is no difference between a Yemeni, a Najdi, a Hijazi, a Jordanian, an Egyptian, and so on; therefore, the original ruling is to prioritize, as we said, the most needy first, and then the nearest second.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And may He reward you.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : I have a note regarding the dawn prayer, because this is wealth zakah, meaning money is distributed to the people of the city, to every one of them, based on the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
it is to be taken from the wealthy among them and given to the poor
تُؤخذ من أغنيائهم وتُرَدُّ على فقرائهمThe Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Then one of the brothers asked me and said to me, "I am here the head of the zakah committee, and I am responsible for delivering these zakah payments to the West Bank. Does this mean that in this job I am committing a violation, such that I am committing a sin, or is there an exception in the legal ruling?"
The Shaykh : What are the zakahs being asked about?
The questioner : Wealth zakah, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The annual one, not?
The questioner : The annual one, yes, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Not zakat al-fitr.
The questioner : It is not zakat al-fitr.
The Shaykh : As for the permissibility of transferring it, it is permissible.
The questioner: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The Shaykh : However, in that, the most needy are considered first, then the nearest.
The questioner : The most needy first, then the nearest.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Not the nearest first, then the most needy.
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : Ah, yes, O Shaykh. Now, what is the reasoning behind the hadith:
It is taken from their rich.
تُؤخذ من أغنيائهمThe Shaykh : This cannot mean a country; it can mean a region.
The questioner : A region.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: Ah.
The Shaykh : For example, the region intended in this hadith is Yemen, to whom Mu'adh was sent.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And Yemen is known to contain many lands, so when the collector collects the alms, he does not collect them from a single country.
The questioner : Yes, correct.
The Shaykh : Ah, and these alms are collected in the treasury of the Muslims.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : Then they are distributed to the eligible recipients.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : Therefore, the interpretation of the hadith is that it is taken and distributed in the same country.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : If the intended meaning of "country" is other than the other countries within the same region, then this is a specific, concrete error.
The questioner : Yes, my Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And if the intended meaning is broader than that, i.e., the region, then we say that this was not possible in those days, because it was not possible for a person at that time to distribute the alms of Yemen in the Hijaz, or the alms of the Hijaz in Yemen, due to the lack of available means.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : This is from one aspect, and from another aspect,
The believers are but brothers
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌThe questioner : May Allah reward you, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And may He reward you.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.