Allah Almighty says, "Truly the sadaqahs are for the Poor, and the Needy, and those who work to collect them, and those whose hearts are becoming accustomed, and those under guard, and those in debt, and in the Way of Allah, and the wayfarer, being ordained by Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise" (innama-s sadaqaatu li-l fuqara'i wa-l masaakeeni wa-l 'amileena 'alayha wa-l mu'allafati quloubuhum wa fi-r riqabi wa-l ghaarimeena wa fi sabeeli-Llahi wa-bni-s sabeel fareedatam mina-Llahi wa-Llahu 'aleemun hakeem [Q, Souratu-t Tawbah, 9:60]).
It is important to note that the Almighty has chosen the word sadaqah, that is 'a token of veracity' or 'a token of trustworthiness' (demonstrating the veracity or trustworthiness of one's claim to be a believer and a follower of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family and followers all), and placed it in the plural, indicating three or more. Thus sadaqaat indicates Sadaqah, Sadaqatu-l Fitr, and Zakat. Therefore the eight categories listed in the ayah Quraniyyah above are the proper recipients for all these three [see Briefing Paper "Sadaqah, Sadaqatu-l Fitr, and Zakat"].
Some people have claimed that the first people to receive such funds should be one's family, and have used this as an excuse for sending money back to Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan when there are desperate people as their neighbours. The authoritative texts (nusous) they cite for this are certain ahadith and the two verses from Souratu-l Baqarah "they ask you what they should lay out. Say, whatever you lay out from good is for parents and kinsmen and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer; and whatever you do from good, surely Allah is knowledgeable of it" (yas'alounaka madha yunfiqoun. qul maa anfaqtum min khayri fa li-l waalidayni wa-l aqrabeena wa-l yataama wa-l masaakeena wa-bni-s sabeel; wa ma taf'alou min khayri fa inna-Llaha bihi 'aleem[Q, Souratu-l Baqarah, 2: 215]) and "they ask you what they should lay out; say, the surplus" (wa yas'alounaka madha yunfiqoun; quli-l 'afwa [Q, Souratu-l Baqarah, 2: 219]). These verses come in the context of maintaining and supporting one's wife (or wives) and family, and the orphans, but especially of supporting or engaging in fighting (which is also laying out from what Allah has provided). An earlier verse, located clearly in the context of jihad, states "and lay out in the Way of Allah..." (wa anfiqou fi sabeeli-Llah... [Q, Souratu-l Baqarah, 2: 195]). The key word in all this is nafaqah, which is used for outlay or maintenance of any sort [see ABM Fact Sheet "Nafaqah"].
Taken in the context of ahadith in which the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, laid so much stress on the rights of neighbours over one's self and one's family, and the duty before Allah Almighty to engage in jihad or to provide for a person engaging in jihad or to look after the family of such a person, then it is clear that what is being considered is outlays in general of whatever sort, and not simply sadaqah. Some people claimed their duty to send money back home to India or Pakistan to their aqrabeen was more important than giving money to help the Bosnians or Kosovans, or to help people help the Bosnians or Kosovans in their jihad. Well that's something they'll have to square with the Almighty on the Day of Judgement. It was to stop just such an asset-stripper's morality towards the wider community they lived in that caused Rasoulu-Llah, peace and blessings be upon him, and the sahabahs, may Allah Almighty be pleased with them, to be so hard on the munaafiqoun, the Hypocrites. Lay out funds to help your parents and kinsmen and so on, as you will, but don't substitute your own biraderi for the ummah Muhammadiyyah and claim a virtue for it as sadaqah.
Allah Almighty has been quite clear as to the eight recipients of the three forms of sadaqah. And the Imams and great fuqaha of the madhahib have elucidated them for us. According to the Shafi'i madh'hab, and the Hanafi and Maliki madh'habs are the same in this, these eight recipients can be defined as:
Faqeer
Someone who has no wealth and no ability to earn, or
does have such but it provides less than a half of
his or her needs, and there is no-one whose duty it
is to provide for him or her.
Miskeen
Someone whose earnings or income is insufficient to
provide for his or her needs and the needs of his or
her dependents (e.g. wife and children), or someone
who has wealth and the capacity to earn but although
it provides a half or more of his or her needs it is
still insufficient.
'Amil
An 'amil is a factor or someone who is employed in the
collection or administration of sadaqah, sadaqatu-l
fitr or zakah. If he or she receive no wages or expenses
from the authorities for doing this work, then he or
she is entitled to be embursed out of the collection.
Mu'allaf
The mu'allaf are of two sorts: those who have newly
embraced Islam, and whose iman is not yet strong enough
to bear unsupported the vicissitudes associated with
their new faith; and those who have newly embraced
Islam and who are influential in their community, so
that if they receive financial support others of their
community will be encouraged to adopt the faith. In each case what is at issue is the financial viability of the convert, cut off from his previous community. As it is unlikely that Islam was seeking to gain recruits by bribery and blandishments, then what was envisaged was a means of setting the converts up financially so that they were independent of their previous community and self-sufficient so that they would not be a continuing burden on the Muslim community.There are authorities who maintain that the Convert
has a lien on zakah funds for as long as he or she
is disadvantaged financially by embracing Islam. In
cases known to the ABM, converts have lost everything
by embracing Islam, and have received virtually no
support from the Muslims. In a number of such instances,
the difficulties of staying as Muslims have been too
much to bear and certain of these have renounced Islam.
It is more than likely that the operative criterion
nowadays is the third, namely an entitlement for as
long as is necessary.
Raqabah
The raqabah (singular of riqab) is someone who is under
control, supervision, or guard. It is a term also used
in Islamic Law for a "person". Traditionally
it has usually been taken as a "slave", and
this category of recipient has often been restricted
to "the slave whose master has promised to manumit
him or her, on payment of a certain price, may be given
zakah funds to allow him or her to free himself or
herself". Were this to be taken as the only meaning,
then this category would be all but redundant except
as it applies to slavery in Saudi Arabia, the Yemen,
the Gulf, and parts of India and Africa. If this category
be limited to enabling slaves to free themselves, then
this places a time limit on this ayah Quraniyyah which
is unacceptable. However, the Almighty has chosen the
word raqabah, and this can apply to any prisoner or
person under guard. This category can therefore encompass
paying to free hostages, kidnap victims, prisoners
of war, asylum seekers under confinement, immigration
applicants in the same situation, and even accused
persons on remand for lack of bail (an accused person
is presumed innocent until convicted by due process
of a court of law). Under this category, zakah funds
could have been used to ransom Bosnian Muslims held
by Croats and Serbs - their venality was staggering:
payment in Deutschemarks would get anything.
Gharim
The gharim is an indebted person who is unable to discharge
his or her debt. Zakah and sadaqah funds may be used
to help the debtor escape from the debt burden. Some
authorities limit the use of the funds to free only
that debtor who has incurred the debts in the course
of doing good works, such as in bringing peace and
reconciliation between people who had fallen out. Other
authorities widen the category to make it generally
embrace any debtors who are unable to continue to meet
the agreed schedule of debt repayment. In this way
it could embrace people who are mortgage defaulters
through redundancy or unemployment, for example. It
is the fact of the debt which is operative, not whether
a person considers the debt to have been wisely incurred
or otherwise, and not whether the person judges the
nature of the debt to be haram or not. It is after
freeing the debtor that education as to these matters
can be introduced. How can the person adhere to the
right way if he or she is not helped, and not helped
up out of the trench he or she may have dug for him
or herself?
Fi Sabeeli-Llah
Disbursements fi sabeeli-Llah cover a wide range of
activities. The most prominent among them are activities
associated with jihad in all its various definitions,
and education or the pursuit of learning (which some
have included under the heading of jihad, anyway).
It is inadmissible for a "Charitable Foundation"
claiming to have zakah and sadaqah funds for disbursement
to refuse to give out money to enable people to go
and participate in jihad, as was done by one prominent
Pakistani foundation when approached by people who
had a brief from the Bosnian government but no money
to fulfil it. The excuse given, while barefacedly claiming
to operate zakah and sadaqah, was that the foundation
was a "humanitarian organisation working with
the UN" and only engaged in peaceful and charitable
activities, thus implicitly (and explicitly in speech)
rejecting the obligation of jihad. And precisely what,
the Muslims are entitled to ask these self-righteous
people, is more humanitarian (in its Islamic, as opposed
to UN, definition) than fighting to succour the weak
and oppressed, and defeat the tyrant? The traditional
definition of this category of fi sabeeli-Llah is "firstly,
to persons who voluntarily fight in the Way of Allah
and who receive no payment from the authorities; and,
secondly, to every activity that follows the commands
of Allah and which strengthens His religion, such as
building madrasahs, hospitals, and helping other charities".
Funds used for educating a person come under this category.
Indeed, if someone has put aside a fund or trust specifically
for education (as is common in America, for example)
then those monies are not "zakatable" [i.e.
they are not liable for zakah, even if they lie idle
for a year as the intention is that the whole amount
be disbursed eventually fi sabeeli-Llah in the form
of supporting a person (or persons) in the pursuit
of knowledge. It is presumed, by the process of husnu-z
zann ("thinking good" or "giving the
benefit of the doubt") that the knowledge pursued
is "useful knowledge" to use Imam Abu Hamid
Muhammad al-Ghazzali's category. If there be any residue
at the end of the studies, then it may be used for
further studies or another person's studies, or, indeed,
for another purpose fi sabeeli-Llah. It would only
become zakatable after laying idle for a year from
the end of the studies.].
Ibnu-s Sabeel
Traditionally this has been taken to mean the traveller
or wayfarer (musafir), with the stipulation that he
or she come from a country, state, province, or county
where zakah is payable, or is passing through such
an area, under the criterion (shart) that he or she
clearly is in need of assistance, while the purpose
of the journey is acceptable (saheeh), such as travelling
to acquire knowledge, or to spread the word of Islam,
or such like good works.
Who may not receive Zakah?
Those who are forbidden to receive zakah (some may receive sadaqatu-l fitr, and some may get sadaqah) are usually considered to fall into one of five categories:
1. Non-Muslims (they may, however, receive sadaqah)
2. Someone who is well-endowed with wealth or with the
means of earning wealth and its products
3. The slave who is being provided for by his or her
master. Other aspects of Islam put enormous pressure
on slave owners to give up the practice; zakah is one
mechanism for achieving this freedom
4. Descendants of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings
be upon him and his family, from the clans of Bani
Hashim and Bani Mutallib
5. Those whose responsibility it is to provide for faqeers
and miskeens. However, if such a person is at the same
time in one of the categories of 'amil, gharim, fi
sabeeli-Llah, or ibnu-s sabeel, then he or she may
qualify under those headings.
wa-Llahu a'lam bi-s sawab wa mina-Llahi-t tawfeequ wa-l
hidayah