and to give some of them preference over others. Conversely, if he says, “For the sons of such-and-such,” and they are a tribe, but that tribe dies out until only ten remain, then they must all be included and treated equally, because a ruling revolves with its effective cause, being present when it is present and absent when it is absent.

The evidence for this is the saying of Allah, Most High: “Zakah is only for the poor and the needy” [al-Tawbah 9:60]. Must we distribute zakah to all the poor without exception?

The answer is no. The Prophet ﷺ said to Qabīṣah: “Stay with us until the charity comes to us, and we shall order that you be given from it.” (1) Thus, it is not obligatory for us to treat equally the ten poor people before us now in the distribution of zakah. It is permissible to give to one and deprive the other nine, or to give them differing amounts, because the basic principle is that neither universal inclusion nor equal treatment is obligatory.