Chapter: Those Entitled to Zakah
They comprise eight categories:
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The poor (faqir): anyone who cannot obtain even half of what he needs for basic living.
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The destitute (miskin): one who can meet half, or more than half, of his needs.1
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The administrator appointed over it2—such as the collector, the guard, the scribe, or the distributor.
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The one whose heart is to be inclined (mu’allaf): a clan leader whose conversion to Islam is sought, whose harm is feared, whose faith is hoped to be strengthened by the gift, whose peer’s conversion might follow, or who can help gather zakah from those who refuse to pay it.
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The mukatab (a slave under a contract of emancipation).
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The debtor (gharim): someone who has taken on debt to reconcile disputants, or for his own needs and has become insolvent.
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The combatant in the path of Allah.
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The wayfarer (ibn al-sabil): a traveler stranded away from his homeland.
All of them3 may be given zakah according to their need, except the administrator, who is paid the wage he deserves even if he is wealthy or a slave.
It is likewise valid to distribute zakah to the Kharijites, the rebels, and to whoever receives it from the rulers.