The Meaning of the Saying of Allah, the Exalted: "And Those Whose Hearts Are to Be Reconciled"
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The Shaykh : The fourth category is those whose hearts are to be reconciled. These are those whose hearts are reconciled to Islam or to something else. The scholars have mentioned that they are of different types:
The first type is the one who is given to strengthen his faith. His faith is weak, so we give to him so that his faith may increase in strength.
The second is the one who is given to bring his counterpart to Islam. How does one bring his counterpart to Islam? There is a man of high status, either a tribal chief or a state leader, who has a counterpart like him, that is, a tribal chief or state leader, but the counterpart is not a Muslim, while the first one is a Muslim. So we give to the first one so that when the second one sees our giving to this Muslim, he will embrace Islam. In this case, the reconciliation is actually for the other person, but he is given so that his counterpart will embrace Islam. The third among those whose hearts are to be reconciled is the one who is given to restrain his evil. There is a man who has evil, and he commits evil against the Muslims, so we give to him from the zakah in order to restrain his evil from the Muslims. The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed on whether it is a condition for those whose hearts are to be reconciled that the person be a leader obeyed by his people, or whether it is permissible to give zakah to a person to reconcile him to Islam even if he is not a leader over anyone? The stronger view, the stronger view is the second one: that if the reconciliation is for the purpose of strengthening faith, it is permissible to give to him even if he is not a leader obeyed by his people, because a person’s need for the strength of faith is greater than his need for food and drink. And Allah has assigned a share of the zakah to those who need food and drink, namely the poor and the needy. How many are these? Four.
The first type is the one who is given to strengthen his faith. His faith is weak, so we give to him so that his faith may increase in strength.
The second is the one who is given to bring his counterpart to Islam. How does one bring his counterpart to Islam? There is a man of high status, either a tribal chief or a state leader, who has a counterpart like him, that is, a tribal chief or state leader, but the counterpart is not a Muslim, while the first one is a Muslim. So we give to the first one so that when the second one sees our giving to this Muslim, he will embrace Islam. In this case, the reconciliation is actually for the other person, but he is given so that his counterpart will embrace Islam. The third among those whose hearts are to be reconciled is the one who is given to restrain his evil. There is a man who has evil, and he commits evil against the Muslims, so we give to him from the zakah in order to restrain his evil from the Muslims. The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed on whether it is a condition for those whose hearts are to be reconciled that the person be a leader obeyed by his people, or whether it is permissible to give zakah to a person to reconcile him to Islam even if he is not a leader over anyone? The stronger view, the stronger view is the second one: that if the reconciliation is for the purpose of strengthening faith, it is permissible to give to him even if he is not a leader obeyed by his people, because a person’s need for the strength of faith is greater than his need for food and drink. And Allah has assigned a share of the zakah to those who need food and drink, namely the poor and the needy. How many are these? Four.