Recipients of Zakah

I start with the name of Allah. I praise Allah and thank Him for the blessings of Islam. I humbly ask Allah to raise the rank of our Prophet, Muhammad, and his kind Al and Companions and to protect his nation from that which he fears for them. I pray to Allah to grant us the proper intention, the ability to understand, and the reward in the Hereafter .

For all types of Zakah, the intention is obligatory upon setting one’s Zakah portion aside. Zakah must be paid to the eight categories of Muslims deserving of Zakah as mentioned explicitly in the Qur’an (Surat at-Tawbah, Verse 61):

إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاء وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْعَامِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَالْغَارِمِينَ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ

Zakah must be paid to the Muslims among the following categories of people deserving of Zakah, who are in the town where the money is. Among these categories deserving of Zakah are:

1. Those who are poor who earn less than half their basic needs (al-fuqara’);
2. Those who are poor who earn half but less than all their basic needs (al-masakin);
3. The Zakah workers who are assigned by the caliph (al-^amilun ^alayha);
4. The new converts to Islam whose hearts are to be reconciled (al-mu’allafatu qulubuhum);
5. The slaves who are short in satisfying their contract for purchasing their freedom from their owners (ar-riqab);
6. Those who are unable to pay their debts (al-gharimun);
7. The travellers who do not have enough to enable them to reach their destination (ibn-us-sabil).

It is neither permissible nor valid to pay Zakah to other than those eight types of people specifically mentioned; that is why it is not valid to pay Zakah for every charitable project .