I have wealth on which I pay zakaah to my needy relatives, namely my grandmother who is my mother’s mother, and my grandmother who is my grandfather’s wife but she is not the mother of my father. They have children other than me, but I heard a hadeeth from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the meaning of which is, “Give it (zakaah) to your relatives.” How sound is this hadeeth? What is the ruling on previous years when I have paid this zakaah, noting that I have not kept track of the number of years when I did this?
Praise be to Allaah.
The hadeeth mentioned is saheeh; the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Abu Talhah al-Ansaari, when he
wanted to give in charity a date-palm grove of his called Bayraha’, “I think
that you should give it to your relatives.” (Saheeh, agreed upon). That was
concerning voluntary charity. But in the case of zakaah, there are more
rulings to be borne in mind: if the relatives are not in the direct line of
ascent or descent, it is permissible to give zakaah to them if they are
poor, and this will be an act of charity as well as upholding ties of
kinship. This also applies to your grandfather’s wife, if she is not your
real grandmother and she is poor and has no children to spend on her. You
have to make up for what you have spent on your maternal grandmother (your
mother’s mother) and on your (paternal) grandfather’s wife, if she was of
independent means because of someone other than yourself spending on her.
And Allaah knows best.
