Paying Zakah by Forgiving a Debt

25 Sep 2020 -

Paying Zakah by Forgiving a Debt QUESTION: If we have given a person some money as a loan for his needs and later we come to know that he deserves Zakat as well as he is not in a good financial position to pay back, so we consider this amount in zakat and tell him not to pay back. Is it alright? ANSWER: A person’s zakah will not be fulfilled by forgiving a debt owed to them from a poor person.[1] To fulfil one‘s zakat properly, they should first give the (zakah-deserving) debtor the zakah amount, making sure that the debtor is given full ownership of this zakah money. Then, they can ask for this amount back as a payment of the debt owed.[2] In this way the zakah will be fulfilled, and the loan will also have been forgiven. However, if one does not trust the debtor to give the money back, they may tell the debtor to introduce a third person as a wakeel (agent). They will receive the zakat amount on behalf of the debtor and then give the amount back as a payment of the debt.[3] And Allah knows best Ishaq Chowdhury Concurred by: Hanif Patel Muadh Chati Asmar Akram Approved by: Mufti Siraj Sitponi Falahi