Mon 13 رمضان 1447 (02 Mar 2026)
[From where are the expenses of distributing zakat to be paid?]
Mufti:
Alsayyed Muhammad b. Abdallah Awad Al-Muayyady
Fatwa number: 17208
Number of views: 6
[From where are the expenses of distributing zakat to be paid?]
Fatwa number: 17208
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Question: A man was given a large amount of zakat that needed to be loaded and transported in a large vehicle, and he was appointed to distribute it to those entitled to it. He is a wealthy man. He hired a large truck to carry it, then distributed it to the rightful recipients bit by bit using a small car; he needed, for this distribution, to pay vehicle hire and to spend on himself. He took what he needed for that from the zakat itself. Is there any blame upon him for this, or not?
Answer: The default is that the expenses of distributing zakat are upon the zakat-payer; for Allah the Exalted has commanded the wealthy to give the zakat of their wealth to the poor, and whatever is necessary to fulfill that obligation likewise becomes obligatory by virtue of it. If zakat cannot be delivered to the poor except with an expense, then that expense is obligatory upon the zakat-payer. That is what is required.
If you volunteered to the merchant to distribute it without compensation, then it is not permissible for you to take anything from it, and you must bear whatever expenses are incurred in distributing it.
If you did not commit yourself to anything with him, then what you took for expenses is permissible and there is no blame upon you for it, but you must inform the merchant of the amount that was deducted from the zakat.
— It may also be said: The zakat-payer is obliged to distribute his zakat to the poor of his own town, and to pay the distribution costs from his personal wealth, not from the zakat. However, if the poor are outside the bounds of his town or in another country—for example, the zakat-payer is in Saudi Arabia and wishes to disburse the zakat of his wealth to the poor in Yemen who have been overwhelmed by poverty—then there is no impediment to making the costs of transporting and distributing it from the zakat; for the zakat-payer is not obliged to disburse his zakat outside his country.
This may be supported by what is well-known: that the Prophet—May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—used to send zakat-collectors to the regions outside Madinah, and he did not command the zakat-payers to bear the cost of transporting zakat to them. The Prophet—May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—would give the zakat-collectors who collected zakat a portion from the zakat as compensation for their work. Allah the Exalted has explicitly stipulated a right and a share in zakat for those who work to collect and administer it. This view is not far-fetched; indeed, spending from zakat for this purpose is considered placing zakat in its proper channels, for it is spending “in the path of Allah,” or—as we have noted—expenditure upon those who work over it.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1
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