Can I Give Zakat to Immediate Relatives or a Mosque?

Answered by Sidi Waseem Hussain

Question: Can i give zakat to my parents, husband, grandmother, granfather, children, sisters of blood, uncle, auntie if each of them really needs it? Also, can i give zakat to build a masjid? I hope you dont mind me asking you sheikh but i will ask you many more questions inshaAllah in few days on many other things, since you are Hanafi and I am too and in our country our community is still to small and we dont follow the same madhab.

Answer: Walaikum Salam Warahmatullah,

I hope you are well,

Thank you for your question,

You can pay zakat to any relative who is not:

• Your parent, grandparent and ascending
• Your child, grandchild and descending
• Your spouse

As for all other relatives then it is not only permissible, but better to pay zakat to them if they are valid zakat-recipients.

With regards to giving zakat directly to a mosque then that is not valid, except if they are collecting the funds to disburse to those zakat-eligible individuals

Zakat can only be given to an actual poor person who takes posession of the given zakat. a virtuous project such as “building a mosque” is neither a person nor poor, and therefore one cannot give zakat to build a mosque.

You are always welcome to send your questions, and we will try our best to answer them. Whenever you have a question and ask, then you are indeed fulfilling a religious obligation, as The Prophet (May Allahs peace and blessings be upon Him) said: “It is obligatory upon every muslim to seek knowledge” [Ibn Majah] and “The cure for confusion is asking” [Abu Dawud] and “A good question is half of knowledge” [Musnad Shihab, Shu’b al-Iman]

If you consider the above hadith, then it becomes clear that it is indeed an obligation on all of us to ask when we do not have the answer ourselves, and this is exactly what Allah has commanded us to do, when he says: “Ask the people of knowledge, if you know not” [al-Nahl 16:43]

May Allah reward you immensely for your great concern for your religion, and make you a source for spreading the deen of Allah in your community,

Wassalam,

Waseem