What is the ruling on spending zakah funds on purchasing books or religious tapes and giving them to a student of knowledge who has enough food and drink?
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The questioner : The spending of zakah funds on purchasing scientific and religious books and religious tapes, and giving them to a student of knowledge, and the ruling if this student of knowledge needs to sell some of the scientific books or tapes and benefit from their price in his livelihood, such as food or drink. Yes.
The Shaykh : Your question, as it appears, has two parts, so distinguish between them. What is the first part of the question?
The questioner : The first part: What is the ruling on spending zakah funds on purchasing scientific and religious books or scientific and religious tapes, and giving them to a student of knowledge to benefit from them?
The Shaykh : First, we believe that the obligatory zakah due from the rich is not considered paid unless it is owned by its recipients. This is the first point.
Second: A student of knowledge is either poor or rich—and peace be upon you. If he is poor, it is permissible for him to be given zakah, whether with the intention that he buys books or that he eats or drinks. However, giving him books directly from the zakah of wealth, we do not see that as permissible—may Allah forgive you! We asked the man, and we told him that his question has two parts, so we are dealing with the first part.
The questioner : He has enough for his needs, but he does not have what to buy books with.
The Shaykh : Your statement that he has enough for his needs, does it move him from the rank of poverty to the rank of wealth? The answer is no.
The questioner : Yes, it does not move him out of poverty.
The Shaykh : So the answer remains as it is. He is poor and owns the money on the condition that he buys what he needs from scientific books. Once he owns this money and buys the scientific books, then the second part of the question comes, as I think, and the answer is very clear. This money has become his property. So if he needs to sell these books to sustain himself, he may do so. Even if this is not a sign of good, because it indicates something that is not good, which is his turning away from knowledge. Perhaps I have answered your question, including the second part of the question.
The questioner : Regarding the point I intended, it is if he has enough food, drink, and clothing, but he cannot add to that to buy books because they require amounts...
The Shaykh : This is a repetition of the question. May Allah reward you.
The questioner : He establishes a library for him.
The Shaykh : This is a repetition of the question. Did he remain poor, or did he become rich?
The questioner : He is rich in terms of food, drink, and clothing.
The Shaykh : Who is the rich, my brother, in the Shari'ah? The rich is the one who owns the nisab.
The questioner : The one who owns his sufficiency.
The Shaykh : No, that is the rich whose sufficiency prevents him from asking people. But the rich in the Shari'ah is the one who owns the nisab, and he must pay zakah. So whoever does not own the nisab is not rich; he is poor. So notice that this question is repeated. He is self-sufficient, meaning, for example, a person with a profession who does not need to ask people, and Allah is his provider and sustainer, but he is not rich in the sense that he must pay zakah on his wealth. So if money comes to him—leave the books for now—if money comes to him, for example, a person gives him one hundred dinars or one thousand dinars, and he knows that this is zakah of wealth, and he is not rich, is it permissible for him to take this money as zakah or not? And he is self-sufficient, as you put it?
The questioner : It is not permissible. If he is self-sufficient, it is not permissible.
The Shaykh : What is the evidence?
The questioner : Because he is considered poor.
The Shaykh : What would he be?
The questioner : He would be self-sufficient and rich, so he does not need to take the money.
The Shaykh : We know that the rich is the one who must pay zakah, and you say this one is rich but does not have to pay zakah...
The questioner : What I understand is that the rich is the one who does not find his sufficiency in his year.
The Shaykh : Correct. But rich with respect to what? Rich with respect to asking people and begging from people's hands, as came in some authentic hadiths: So he is rich with respect to this kind of asking, which is forbidden for him. But if he is self-sufficient and money comes to him, and he does not have to pay zakah, we do not find in the Shari'ah anything that forbids him from taking the zakah of the rich's wealth, because he does not own the nisab.
The Shaykh : Your question, as it appears, has two parts, so distinguish between them. What is the first part of the question?
The questioner : The first part: What is the ruling on spending zakah funds on purchasing scientific and religious books or scientific and religious tapes, and giving them to a student of knowledge to benefit from them?
The Shaykh : First, we believe that the obligatory zakah due from the rich is not considered paid unless it is owned by its recipients. This is the first point.
Second: A student of knowledge is either poor or rich—and peace be upon you. If he is poor, it is permissible for him to be given zakah, whether with the intention that he buys books or that he eats or drinks. However, giving him books directly from the zakah of wealth, we do not see that as permissible—may Allah forgive you! We asked the man, and we told him that his question has two parts, so we are dealing with the first part.
The questioner : He has enough for his needs, but he does not have what to buy books with.
The Shaykh : Your statement that he has enough for his needs, does it move him from the rank of poverty to the rank of wealth? The answer is no.
The questioner : Yes, it does not move him out of poverty.
The Shaykh : So the answer remains as it is. He is poor and owns the money on the condition that he buys what he needs from scientific books. Once he owns this money and buys the scientific books, then the second part of the question comes, as I think, and the answer is very clear. This money has become his property. So if he needs to sell these books to sustain himself, he may do so. Even if this is not a sign of good, because it indicates something that is not good, which is his turning away from knowledge. Perhaps I have answered your question, including the second part of the question.
The questioner : Regarding the point I intended, it is if he has enough food, drink, and clothing, but he cannot add to that to buy books because they require amounts...
The Shaykh : This is a repetition of the question. May Allah reward you.
The questioner : He establishes a library for him.
The Shaykh : This is a repetition of the question. Did he remain poor, or did he become rich?
The questioner : He is rich in terms of food, drink, and clothing.
The Shaykh : Who is the rich, my brother, in the Shari'ah? The rich is the one who owns the nisab.
The questioner : The one who owns his sufficiency.
The Shaykh : No, that is the rich whose sufficiency prevents him from asking people. But the rich in the Shari'ah is the one who owns the nisab, and he must pay zakah. So whoever does not own the nisab is not rich; he is poor. So notice that this question is repeated. He is self-sufficient, meaning, for example, a person with a profession who does not need to ask people, and Allah is his provider and sustainer, but he is not rich in the sense that he must pay zakah on his wealth. So if money comes to him—leave the books for now—if money comes to him, for example, a person gives him one hundred dinars or one thousand dinars, and he knows that this is zakah of wealth, and he is not rich, is it permissible for him to take this money as zakah or not? And he is self-sufficient, as you put it?
The questioner : It is not permissible. If he is self-sufficient, it is not permissible.
The Shaykh : What is the evidence?
The questioner : Because he is considered poor.
The Shaykh : What would he be?
The questioner : He would be self-sufficient and rich, so he does not need to take the money.
The Shaykh : We know that the rich is the one who must pay zakah, and you say this one is rich but does not have to pay zakah...
The questioner : What I understand is that the rich is the one who does not find his sufficiency in his year.
The Shaykh : Correct. But rich with respect to what? Rich with respect to asking people and begging from people's hands, as came in some authentic hadiths:
That whoever asks for charity while he has a meal for the day and a meal for the night will come on the Day of Resurrection with scratches and cuts on his face.
أنه من سأل وله غداء يوم وعشاء ليلة جاء يوم القيامة وعلى وجهه خموش وخدوش وخدوش
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.