If a man has a debt owed to him by another, and he comes to pay his zakah, saying to the debtor, "I have zakah that is in lieu of the debt you owe me," what is the ruling?

The questioner : There is a person who lent another person a sum of money. This latter person took... a condition from his wealth, and when the lender wanted to pay the zakah of his wealth, he said to himself, "Instead of paying the zakah of my wealth, I will go to this person to whom I gave this amount and say, 'I forgive you this as my zakah, so accept it from me.'" And at the same time, it means he facilitated things for the owner of... Is it permissible to pay the zakah of his wealth in this manner correctly?

The Shaykh : In my understanding of the Shari'ah, this matter must be clarified. If this debt that the owner of the wealth has against the debtor is considered a living debt, meaning he does not deny it, but as I told you, he delays payment, then this is a debt called... a living debt, not a dead one. If he denies it, then it is dead. If the debt is living, that is the first condition. The second condition is that the man must be poor, because it is possible that he is delaying payment but is of the type about whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, meaning he is rich yet still delays you. So it is not necessary that he be poor simply because he is delaying. If he is poor, that is the second condition. The third and final condition is that you clarified it to him as I said, and he accepted it from you. In that case, his conscience is cleared. Is that clear?

The questioner : Yes.