Fatwas Archive

Question: Is it permissible to spend zakat on a mosque or the like among public interests, or not?

Question: Some merchants take out the cash of their zakat and purchase with it sacks of grain or flour, then distribute them to the poor, saying: “If we give our zakat in cash, the poor would waste it on what...

Question: If a man has a debt that is despaired of (ma’yūs), then he absolves the debtor of it, is he obliged to pay zakat for the past years or not?

Question: A man wishes to give a charity and wants to place it in the best places in the sight of Allah the Exalted. What are the best places for it with Allah?

Question: A man’s father died; he is the youngest of his brothers and is engaged in seeking knowledge, yet his brothers give him nothing to help him in seeking knowledge. He possesses nothing. He gave away what he owned to...

Question: Is it permissible to disburse zakat, or expiation (kaffārah), or fiṭrah to one who is suspected of secretly disobeying Allah, or to one whom we do not see maintaining the prayers in the mosque, or the like?

Question: A poor man does not pray; he has young, frail children and a wife. Is it permissible to disburse zakat to this man?

Question: A man owns three small plots whose yield does not suffice him until the next harvest. Is it permissible for him to take zakat—even though, were he to sell these plots, their value would exceed a nisab—or not?

Question: A man owns two plots measuring forty ḥablahs. Years may pass in which he is unable to plant them—due to scant rainfall or the like. He has nothing in hand and has a family. If he were to sell...

Question: A poor man wishes to marry. He has taken from zakat less than a nisab, then refrained from taking more. In this case, is it permissible for him to take more than a nisab—enough to cover the costs of...