Is it permissible to transfer zakah from the country of the wealthy to another country?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : His saying (peace be upon him): Sahih al-Bukhari 7372 Is it taken from this hadith that the charities or the zakah collected from the wealthy of this country should not be taken out of this country...?
The Shaykh : His saying:Sahih al-Bukhari 7372 Some scholars derived from this hadith that it is not permissible to transfer zakah from the country where the wealthy are to another country, because his saying "the wealthy" is specific to the wealthy of the people of Yemen, and "their poor" is also specific to the poor of the people of Yemen.
They also explained this in terms of meaning: if zakah is transferred from the country of the wealthy to another country, it becomes a source of resentment in the hearts of the poor in that country, and they will hate the wealthy. This may lead to aggression against the wealthy and the taking of their wealth, thus resulting in fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). This is the well-known position in the madhhab (school of jurisprudence) of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), that it is forbidden to transfer zakah from outside the country, but they qualified this with the distance of qasr (shortening the prayer when travelling), unless there is no one entitled to it in the country, in which case it is distributed in another country.
it is to be taken from the rich among them and given to the poor
تؤخذ من غنيهم فترد على فقيرهمThe Shaykh : His saying:
it is to be taken from the rich among them and given to the poor
تؤخذ من غنيهم فترد على فقيرهمThey also explained this in terms of meaning: if zakah is transferred from the country of the wealthy to another country, it becomes a source of resentment in the hearts of the poor in that country, and they will hate the wealthy. This may lead to aggression against the wealthy and the taking of their wealth, thus resulting in fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). This is the well-known position in the madhhab (school of jurisprudence) of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), that it is forbidden to transfer zakah from outside the country, but they qualified this with the distance of qasr (shortening the prayer when travelling), unless there is no one entitled to it in the country, in which case it is distributed in another country.