for anyone other than them. Thus, zakat may not be spent on building mosques, constructing schools, repairing roads, or anything else of that kind, because Allah has ordained it for these categories, saying:

“An obligation from Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” [al-Tawbah 9:60]

His statement, “the poor, who are those who possess nothing or possess only part of what suffices them”: The author began with “the poor,” following Allah’s own beginning with them. Here, the poor are those who possess less than half of what suffices them, or who possess nothing at all.

How can this be determined? A person may estimate that his annual expenses are ten thousand riyals, but then prices rise and his expenses become fifteen or twenty thousand.

The answer is that one estimates customary sufficiency according to what appears to be the case at present, not according to what will actually occur, since that lies in the future, and the future belongs to Allah. If something new arises, then each occurrence has its own ruling.

This may also be estimated according to a monthly salary. If a person receives five thousand annually but spends ten thousand in the year, then he is needy, because he possesses half of what he requires. If his annual salary is four thousand while his expenses are ten thousand, then he is poor. If he has no job or work, then he is poor.

The poor person is called faqīr because his hand is empty. The word is originally derived from qafr, meaning barren land; this corresponds to faqr in the intermediate derivational sense, in that the letters are the same but arranged differently. It refers to land devoid of inhabitants.