categories, not to require that it be divided among them all. This was the view of ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbas, and it was also held by Sa‘id ibn Jubayr and ‘Ata’. It was the position adopted by Sufyan al-Thawri and the scholars of legal reasoning, and Ahmad likewise held it. He said: “It is permissible to allocate it to a single category, though distributing it among them is preferable.”

Ibrahim said: “If the wealth is abundant enough to allow for shares to be given, it should be divided among the categories; but if it is little, it may be allocated to one category.”

Malik said: “One should seek out the area of greatest need among them, giving priority to those most deserving among the people of deprivation and need. Thus, if he finds that, in a given year, the poor are in greater need, he gives them priority; and if, in another year, he finds the need to be greater in another category, he transfers it to them.”

No one who receives anything from the alms may be given more than the measure of his entitlement. Thus, a poor person is not given more than what will make him self-sufficient; once he has attained the minimum level of sufficiency, he is given nothing further. If he has a trade but lacks the tools of his trade, he is given enough to acquire those tools. The zakat collector is not given more than the wage for his work; the contracted slave, only enough to secure his emancipation; the debtor, only enough to settle his debt; the fighter, only enough for his expenses of travel, return, and residence during his campaign, as well as whatever he needs in the way of a mount and weapons; and the stranded traveler, only enough to reach his destination or return home.

They differed regarding transferring alms from the town where the wealth is located to another place when eligible recipients are present in that town. Most scholars disapproved of this, on account of what Abu ‘Uthman Sa‘id ibn Isma‘il al-Dabbi informed us: Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Jabbar ibn Muhammad al-Jurahi informed us; Abu al-‘Abbas Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mahbubi related to us; Abu ‘Isa al-Tirmidhi related to us; Abu Kurayb related to us; Waki‘ related to us; Zakariyya ibn Ishaq al-Makki related to us; Yahya ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Sayfi related to us from Abu Ma‘bad, from Ibn ‘Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, sent Mu‘adh to Yemen and said:

“You are going to a people from among the People of the Scripture. Call them to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. If they obey you in this, then inform them that Allah has made five prayers obligatory upon them each day and night. If they obey you in this, then inform them that Allah has made alms obligatory upon them, to be taken from their wealthy and returned to their poor. If they obey you in this, then beware of taking the best of their property, and beware of the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and Allah.” (1)

This indicates that the alms taken from the wealthy of every people are to be returned to the poor of that people.

They agreed that if it is transferred from one town to another, it is valid despite being disapproved, and the obligation is discharged from one’s liability—except for what