Can Zakah Be Given to Relatives?
Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bāz
Categorized under: Explanations, Family Ties, Fatāwá and Rulings, Ḥadīth, Zakah
Question to Shaikh Ibn Bāz, may Allāh have mercy on him:
Is it allowed to give [one’s] zakah to [one’s] relatives if they were poor—[one’s] father, mother, brother, or sister?
Answer:
It’s allowed to give zakah to those who are poor from among [one’s] relatives, [that counting as both] giving charity and keeping good relations with one’s relatives, since the Prophet ﷺ, when he was asked, said, “Charity given to a poor person [counts as] giving charity, [but] to a relative, [it counts] as two: giving charity and keeping good relations with one’s relatives.”
So there’s nothing wrong in one’s giving out of one’s zakah or voluntary charity to one’s brother, paternal uncle, or maternal uncle, [for example], if [any of them] were poor. [That would then be counted as both] giving charity and keeping good relations with one’s relatives.
But if the poor person were his father, one of his grandparents, or his mother, then no, since it’s upon him to spend on them; [similarly], if he were from his offspring, he doesn’t give them out of zakah; rather, he [must] spend upon them, since a child has greater right on his father that he spend upon him, and a mother, likewise, if [her son] were unable [to take care of his needs] while she had the ability [to spend on him].
What’s meant is that children, [one’s] offspring, are not given out of [one’s] zakah [money]; rather, their father is to spend upon them, [or] mother, from his [or her] wealth is they were poor. Likewise, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers are not given out of [one’s] zakah [money]—they’re given out of [money] other than zakah, yes.
Presenter:
[The one with the question] is asking, O Shaikh, is it correct [to say] that zakah should not be given to those who stand to inherit from you [according to Islamic inheritance law]?
Shaikh Ibn Bāz:
No, that’s not a must. If he were … if he were his brother, he could give him from zakah [money], if he were needy, according to what’s correct—there’s no harm in that. The only thing that’s prohibited is [giving zakah] to one’s direct ascendants or descendents. Ascendants are one’s father, mother, grandfathers, and grandmothers; […] descendants are like one’s children, one’s children’s children, one’s daughter’s daughter, yes.