the Sacred Law—that I give it to a stranger who benefits from my zakah and meets his needs while my father is starving from hunger?

The answer: No, because I am unable to support my father. In this case, zakah may validly be given to the father. This may also be inferred from the author’s words, “those whose maintenance he is not obligated to provide,” because one of the conditions for the obligation of maintenance—even according to the author and those of his fellow scholars who share his view—is that the provider be financially able. Here, the provider is not wealthy, since he does not have what he can spend on these people.

The principle is that an obligation may not be discharged through zakah. This is a useful principle, so apply it to one’s brother and paternal uncle: if one is obligated to maintain them, one may not give them zakah.

However, if one gives to those whose maintenance one is obligated to provide for a purpose other than maintenance—such as because they are fighters in the path of Allah, debtors, or zakah administrators—then it is permissible.