Issue: The ruling on paying off the debt of a deceased person from zakah.

The Shaykh : Is it permissible to pay off the debt of a deceased person from zakah? The answer is no, it is not permissible to pay off the debt of a deceased person from zakah. This is because if the deceased left an estate, it is obligatory to pay off his debt from his estate. If he did not leave an estate, and someone volunteers to pay off his debt, he is to be thanked for that. If no one volunteers, his affair is left to Allah. For this reason, it is not established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) paid off a debt of a deceased person from zakah. Rather, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would prioritize the deceased who were brought to him with debts. When they said, "He has a debt that he cannot pay," he would leave off praying over him, even though zakah was made obligatory from the very beginning when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madinah, and he did not pay off the debts of the deceased from zakah. When Allah granted him victory and the war spoils increased, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would, when a deceased person was brought to him to be prayed over and he had a debt, say: Ibn 'Abd al-Barr mentioned that the scholars agreed that it is not permissible to pay off the debt of a deceased person from zakah. Although there is a point of consideration in the report of this consensus, because disagreement is established, the correct view is that it is not permissible to pay off the debt of a deceased person from zakah. Who is more deserving: the living person whose heart is broken by debt and whose face is humiliated by debt when he meets his creditor, as if he is being struck in the face, or the deceased who has moved from this world to the Hereafter and whose affair is left to Allah? The living person is undoubtedly more deserving. If the door were opened to paying off the debts of the deceased from zakah, the living would be neglected, because emotion tends to lean more toward freeing the deceased than toward freeing the living. If the door were opened, people would lean toward paying off the debts of the deceased, and it would be said, "Look at the ledgers, the ledgers of the deceased." Perhaps there would be manipulation by the heirs, who would claim that the deceased did not leave an estate, in order for the debt of the deceased to be paid off, while the estate remains preserved for them.