Chapter: Those to whom obligatory charity may and may not be given

Allah Most High says: “Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and the needy…” (Q 9:60). The verse names eight categories, but the class called al-muʾallafah qulūbuhum (those whose hearts are to be reconciled) has been dropped, for Allah has honored Islam and made it independent of them.

A faqīr is someone who owns only the bare minimum, while a miskīn is one who owns nothing at all. The ʿāmil (collector) receives from the imām a stipend proportionate to the work he actually performs. “Freeing necks” means helping the mukātabs (slaves under manumission contracts) to purchase their freedom. The ghārim is the person burdened by debt. “In the path of Allah” refers to fighters cut off from their means, and ibn al-sabīl (wayfarer) is someone who has wealth in his homeland but finds himself in a place where he has nothing. These, then, are the lawful avenues of zakah.

The owner may distribute his zakah among all of these categories, or he may confine it to just one.

It is impermissible to give zakah to a dhimmī (non-Muslim under Muslim protection). Nor may it be used to build a mosque, shroud a deceased person, or buy a slave in order to set him free, and it is not to be given to a wealthy person.

The payer may not give his zakah to his father or grandfather, however far upward the lineage goes, nor to his son or grandson, however far downward it descends, nor to his wife. According to Abū Ḥanīfah, a woman likewise may not give it to her husband, whereas Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad permit her to do so.

He may not pay it to his own mukātab (slave under a manumission contract), nor