Who Can Receive Zakat? The 8 Categories Explained

یہ صفحہ اردو میں پڑھیں

Working out how much zakat you owe is half the job. The other half is making sure it reaches someone who is allowed to take it, because zakat given to the wrong person does not count as paid. Here is the list from the Quran, followed by the people scholars agree you should not give to, and the most common mistakes.

Who are the 8 categories of zakat (masarif-e-zakat)?

“Zakat is only for the poor, the needy, those employed to collect it, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, freeing captives, those in debt, in the cause of Allah, and the traveller: an obligation from Allah.” (Surah at-Tawbah 9:60)

1. Fuqara (the poor): in Hanafi fiqh, a person who does not own wealth at the nisab level beyond basic needs (home, clothes, household goods, tools of work). A salaried person can still be eligible if, after basic needs, they hold less than the nisab.
2. Masakin (the needy): people in even greater hardship, who may not have enough for the day.
3. Zakat workers (‘amilin): people appointed by a government or an organised body to collect and distribute zakat. Volunteers at your local mosque are not automatically in this category.
4. Those whose hearts are to be reconciled: new Muslims and others the Islamic state wished to bring closer. Hanafi scholars hold that this share is not in use today; the other schools keep it.
5. Freeing captives (riqab): originally freeing slaves; many scholars today apply it to ransoming prisoners held unjustly.
6. People in debt (gharimin): someone who cannot repay a debt taken for a permissible need. Clearing a poor neighbour’s hospital bill or overdue rent falls here.
7. In the cause of Allah (fi sabilillah): in classical Hanafi fiqh, a needy person striving in Allah’s path, including a poor student of religious knowledge.
8. Stranded travellers (ibn as-sabil): someone who has run out of money away from home, even if they are well off at home.

Who cannot receive your zakat?

• Your parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren. You already have a duty to support them, so help them from your other money.
• Your wife. A husband may not give his zakat to his wife. Whether a wife may give her zakat to a poor husband is disputed: Imam Abu Hanifa said no, while Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam Muhammad and the Shafi’i school allow it, based on the hadith of Zaynab, the wife of Ibn Mas’ud.
• Anyone who owns wealth at the nisab or above beyond their basic needs.
• Sayyids (Banu Hashim) in all four Sunni schools. In Ja’fari fiqh a Sayyid may receive zakat from another Sayyid only; khums (sahm-e-sadat) is meant for them.
• Your own employees as part of their salary. Wages are owed anyway; zakat cannot replace them.

Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and in-laws who are eligible may receive your zakat, and the Prophet ﷺ said giving to a relative is both charity and keeping family ties, so it carries a double reward (Tirmidhi 658).

Common mistakes

• Building a mosque or madrasa with zakat. Most scholars, and the Hanafi school in particular, say zakat must become the property of a deserving person (tamlik). Construction does not do that. Give to institutions that keep a separate zakat fund for needy students and patients.
• Paying a domestic worker’s salary from zakat. You can give a poor worker zakat as a separate gift, but not as wages.
• Giving to a “poor-looking” person without asking. If you have a reasonable belief they are eligible and later learn they were not, Hanafi scholars say your zakat is still valid. Making a sensible effort is enough.
• Waiting for Ramadan when someone needs help now. You may pay zakat in advance of the due date in the Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali schools.

Practical tips

• Make the intention (niyyah) of zakat when you give it, or when you set the money aside for it.
• You do not have to tell the person it is zakat. Calling it a gift is fine and saves their dignity.
• If you use a charity, ask whether zakat money is kept separate and how it reaches individuals; the checks for UK, US, Canadian and Pakistani charities are in giving zakat abroad and through charities.
• Keep a short record of what you gave and to whom. It helps next year.

First work out how much you owe with the zakat calculator. If you follow Fiqh-e-Jafaria, see the khums calculator as well.

Frequently asked questions