Support IslamQA

Please contribute generously in order to ensure the continuity of our website InshaAllah.

Giving zakaah to someone without being certain that he is entitled to it

05-11-2007

Question 106440

Is it permissible to give zakaah to someone without being certain that he is entitled to it?.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

It is essential when giving zakaah to try hard to give it to one who is known or thought most likely to be entitled to it, and it is not permissible to be careless about that. We have explained the categories on which zakaah may be spent in the answer to question no. 46209

But if you give it to a person and you do not think it is likely that he is entitled to zakaah, that is not valid and you have to give it again. 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The correct view is that zakaah is valid if it is given to one who you think is entitled to it after checking the matter in the case of uncertainty, and if you think that he is most likely entitled to it and you give it to him, that is valid. End quote from Sharh al-Kaafi 

And Allaah knows best.

Where Zakah is to Be Spent
Show on Islam Q&A website.