He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked:

A person established an endowment for poor Muslims. May its administrator, in these circumstances, distribute all its income to three people or not? If he may distribute it to three people, and the founder has a poor relative whose poverty and entitlement to receive from this endowment have been established, may that relative receive a share in place of one of the three beneficiaries unrelated to the founder?

If he may receive a share, should he be given priority over the two unrelated beneficiaries? If he should be given priority, may the administrator, in these circumstances, give the founder’s relative enough from the endowment to meet his needs? If that is permissible, is doing so preferable and better than giving him less than he needs and distributing the difference to an unrelated person in these circumstances?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. The administrator of an endowment must exercise his best judgment in distributing its proceeds, giving priority to those most entitled, in descending order. If a benefit recognized by Islamic law requires distributing it to three people—for example, because any less would not suffice for them—he should not include other poor people alongside them. If it suffices for them and for other poor people, he should include those others and treat them equally in distributing the income it yields. They have a stronger claim than he does when claims compete, and in similar circumstances. And the relatives of