On whom is zakah obligatory?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The honorable Shaykh, may Allah forgive you: Some people give me a large sum of money to distribute to those who are entitled to zakah. What are the conditions that make a man eligible to receive zakah?
The Shaykh : Yes, you know that the categories of zakah recipients are eight. Allah the Exalted said:[At-Tawbah 9:60] The poor and the needy are those who do not find enough to sustain themselves for a year. For example, if a person has a salary of three thousand, but his expenses require four thousand, he is among the recipients of zakah. We give him twelve thousand, is that not so? His salary is three thousand and his expenses are four thousand; he needs one thousand per month, so we give him twelve thousand for the year. The debtors are those who have debts they cannot pay off; they are also among the recipients of zakah. We pay off their debts for them. We have two ways to pay off their debts: the first way is that we give the money to the debtor, and he pays it to the creditor; the second way is that we pay the creditor directly. Both are valid. But which is better: giving the money to the debtor so he pays the creditor, or going to the creditor and paying him directly without giving the debtor? This requires detail: if the debtor is a man we know to be careful about clearing his conscience, and if we give him the money and say, "Pay your debt with this," he will go and pay it off, then it is better to give the money to the debtor rather than the creditor, so that his heart is not broken if we pay it off for him, and so that there is no showing off by the giver. However, if the debtor is a man who is careless, and if we give him the money to pay it off, he will not pay it off, then in that case we turn away from him and give the money to the creditor, and his debt is thereby cleared. As for the traveler, he is the one whose journey has been cut off and his funds have run out, so we give him what will take him to his home. Yes.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, you know that the categories of zakah recipients are eight. Allah the Exalted said:
Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakah] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the [stranded] traveler
إنما الصدقات للفقراء والمساكين والعاملين عليها والمؤلفة قلوبهم وفي الرقاب والغارمين وفي سبيل الله وابن السبيلThe questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes.