Scholarly disagreement:
The jurists have differed over whether it is lawful to transfer zakah from the town in which the wealth is located to another town.

The Shafi‘i and Hanbali schools rule that it is impermissible to move it beyond the distance at which a traveler may shorten the prayer—a span they calculate as two stages, or roughly 48 miles. Their evidence is the hadith of Muʿadh, whom the Prophet ﷺ sent (to Yemen): “Inform them that Allah has made charity obligatory upon them: it is taken from their wealthy and returned to their poor.” The poor mentioned here, they argue, are the needy of the very locality that contains the wealth and its owners.

The Malikīs likewise prohibit transfer for any distance equal to or greater than the shortening distance, except when those in another locality are in greater need.

All three schools agree that moving zakah within a distance shorter than the qasr limit is permissible, for such a place is treated as part of the same locality.

The Hanafi school considers the transfer merely disliked, not forbidden, unless there is a benefit in doing so, such as giving it to needy relatives. This was also the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, who allows transfer whenever a legitimate sharʿī interest exists.

Those who permit the transfer cite two proofs:

1. The reference to “the poor” in the hadith of Muʿadh is not confined to the poor of one town but is general to all needy Muslims.
2. The Prophet ﷺ used to dispatch collectors who would bring the alms from distant regions to Madinah, where they were then distributed among its poor.

The majority of scholars—even those who disallow the transfer—state that if someone does move his zakah, the obligation is nonetheless fulfilled and he has discharged his duty. This was reported by Imām al-Muwaffaq in his book al-Mughni. Allah knows best.