or that I give the debtor the money so that he may settle it himself? We say: this calls for some detail. If you fear that, were you to hand the funds to the debtor, he would not repay but would instead consume the money and leave the debt as it is, then in that case do not give to the debtor; rather, give it to the creditor. For if you give the debtor the money, he may spend it on trivial matters and neglect the debt, and some people pay no heed to what they owe. Therefore, if you know that the debtor would waste the money and his liability would remain, do not give it to him—give it to the creditor.

On the other hand, if the debtor is sensible and God-fearing, the sort who will never be content while his liability lingers, and I am almost certain that if I give him the money he will go straight to the creditor and clear his debt, then we give it to the debtor and say, “Take this money and pay off your obligation,” for that is more discreet and better for him.

Nevertheless, when distributing zakah we must beware of some people’s ploys. Someone may hand you a statement of the debts he owes and you pay off, by Allah’s grace, what you can; then, a year later, he brings you the same statement without deducting what has already been settled. Be alert to this, for some people—Allah preserve us—do not care about lawful or unlawful; all that matters to them is acquiring money. He brings back the original list, half of which has already been paid, and presents it to you again—so watch out. We ourselves have been faced with cases of this sort: we once went to hand funds to the creditor on the basis of the statement that had been