Al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr remarks, “We know of no difference of opinion that the obligatory charity is unlawful for Banū Hāshim; the ruling concerns those members of Banū Hāshim whose descendants are still clearly identified.”
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His words, “Ṣadaqah is not appropriate for the family of Muhammad,” employ the term ṣadaqah in its broad sense, covering both the obligatory form—zakāh—and voluntary alms. Here, however, the attached rationale, “It is only the impurities of the people,” shows that what is meant is zakāh specifically.
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The wisdom behind forbidding zakāh to them is expressed in his ﷺ statement, “Zakāh is but the impurities of the people.” Expiatory payments were instituted to erase sin; therefore the rank of Prophethood, and likewise his family, were honoured by not being the receptacle of that “wash water.” This is the explicit reason for the prohibition.
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Consensus has been reported that voluntary charity, endowments (waqf), bequests, and vows designated for the poor are lawful for them. They were barred only from zakāh because it purifies the wealth and souls of the rich, whereas voluntary charity, vows, bequests, and endowments do not serve that function.
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Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn, al-Qāḍī, Abū al-Wafāʾ Ibn ʿAqīl—among the Hanbalīs—and al-Ājurī, Abū Ṭālib al-Baṣrī, Abū Yūsuf al-Isṭakhrī of the Shāfiʿīs, and others, held that Banū Hāshim may receive zakāh if they are denied their share of the khums (the one-fifth), because that amounts to need and necessity. They were kept from zakāh only because the khums sufficed for them, so both sources of livelihood should not be cut off at once. In the Muṣannaf of Ibn Abī Shaybah (10714) Mujāhid reports: “The family of Muhammad ﷺ were not permitted to take charity, so a fifth of the fifth was assigned to them.”
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Sharḥ al-Iqnāʿ and other works state: If members of Banū Hāshim are combatants, among those whose hearts are to be reconciled, or debtors burdened by communal disputes, they may accept zakāh, for the ruling in those categories applies even to the wealthy and does not entail humiliation. As for wages earned for zakāh-collection work, that is forbidden to them by explicit text, just as it is to their freedmen, as will be explained, God willing.
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His statement, “It is only the impurities of the people,” provides the rationale for barring Banū Hāshim from receiving zakāh. Stating the rationale for any legal ruling yields four benefits: