My brother borrowed five thousand riyals from me, and my sister borrowed five hundred riyals. I always pay my zakaah in Ramadaan. Should I pay zakaah on these two debts? Is it permissible for me to use it to feed fasting people or to establish a charitable waqf for a library for da’wah?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
The scholars of the Standing Committee said:
If the debtor is in difficulty or he has sufficient funds but
he is taking a long time to pay back the loan, and the lender cannot get his
money back from him – either because he does not have proof that will help
him get it back through the authorities or he has proof but he cannot find
any authority figure to help him get his rights – as happens in some
countries where there is no support for people’s rights – then the lender
does not have to pay zakaah until he gets his money back and one full hijri
year has passed since he got it.
But if the debtor has sufficient funds and it is possible to
get the money back from him, then the lender has to pay zakaah every time a
full hijri year has passed, if the loan reaches the nisaab by itself or when
added to other money, etc.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah li’l-Buhooth al-‘Ilmiyyah
wa’l-Ifta, 9/191
Secondly:
If zakaah is due on a person’s wealth, it is not permissible
for him to dispose of it except in the ways prescribed in sharee’ah, which
are explained in the answer to question no.
6977. It is not
permissible to use zakaah to feed the fasting or to establish a charitable
waqf, because these are not among the eight areas in which zakaah is to be
spent, as defined by Allaah, may He be exalted.
We have already explained that it is not permissible to use
zakaah funds to build mosques and schools, or to print Mus-hafs. See
questions no. 13734
and 21797.
And Allaah knows best.
