Who May Receive Zakat: Eligible and Ineligible Recipients

1. Recipients of Zakat

باب من يجوز دفع الصدقة إليه ومن لا يجوز
Translation: Who may receive obligatory charity and who may not.

Here ṣadaqah denotes obligatory zakat in this chapter. Need alone is not the only test: eligibility, identity and valid ownership transfer also matter.

The passage addresses recipient classes, exclusions, mistaken payments and transferring zakat to another town.

2. The eight Quranic categories

قال الله تعالى: {إنما الصدقات للفقراء والمساكين} الآية
Translation: Allah says: “Zakat charities are for the poor and the needy,” continuing through the verse.

This is the opening of Qur’an 9:60. Its eight listed categories are the poor, the destitute, collectors, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, those in bondage, debtors, in Allah’s cause and stranded travellers.

The subsequent historical Hanafi treatment of the reconciliation category must not be confused with the original eight-part Quranic enumeration.

3. Historical treatment of muʾallafat al-qulūb

فهذه ثمانية أصناف قد سقطت منها المؤلفة قلوبهم لأن الله تعالى أعز الإسلام وأغنى عنهم
Translation: These are eight classes; the share of those whose hearts were to be reconciled has, according to this discussion, lapsed as Islam was strengthened.

Muʾallafat al-qulūb refers to the category of reconciliation or winning hearts. The statement reflects the historical Hanafi juristic position reported here.

It does not mean the category has been erased from Qur’an 9:60. Distinguish the text of revelation from how this Hanafi manual treats one category’s operative share.

4. Definition of faqīr

والفقير: من له أدنى شيء
Translation: The faqīr is one who possesses something slight.

In this passage faqīr means a needy person who does possess a little property but lacks the relevant level of financial sufficiency.

Owning some belongings does not automatically exclude someone. Later rules on the nisab and essential needs refine the assessment.

5. Definition of miskīn

والمسكين: من لا شيء له
Translation: The miskīn is one who has nothing.

The manual presents a clear contrast: a faqīr possesses a little, while a miskīn possesses nothing.

This is the distinction adopted in this text; terminology may be discussed differently across juristic works.

6. Authorised zakat collectors

والعامل: يدفع إليه الإمام بقدر عمله إن عمل
Translation: The imam gives the authorised collector according to his work, provided he actually performs it.

The ʿāmil is an officially assigned zakat worker, not merely anyone who volunteers to carry an envelope of money.

The words “if he works” make the appointment and performance of duties relevant; the payment is connected to the work.

7. In bondage: assistance to a mukātab

وفي الرقاب: يعان المكاتبون في فك رقابهم
Translation: Under “those in bondage,” contracted slaves are assisted to secure their freedom.

A mukātab, in the historical legal context, was an enslaved person with a contractual path to freedom through payment. This category supports the person in fulfilling that obligation.

The later prohibition on buying and freeing an enslaved person directly is not the same transaction as giving assistance to an eligible mukātab.

8. Gharim: the debtor

والغارم: من لزمه دين
Translation: The gharim is someone upon whom a debt has become binding.

The category concerns enforceable debt. Liabilities may leave a debtor in genuine need, but the passage gives the short definition rather than every condition of eligibility.

Do not infer that every borrower, regardless of wealth, automatically qualifies.

9. Fī sabīl Allāh in this manual

وفي سبيل الله: منقطع الغزاة
Translation: For Allah’s cause, the text specifies stranded participants in military expeditions.

“Munqaṭiʿ al-ghuzāt” is a historical legal expression for participants cut off from their resources during the relevant journey. The emphasis in this manual is on their being stranded and in need.

This short medieval rule is not blanket authorisation to fund a present-day armed group or activity.

10. Ibn al-sabīl: stranded traveller

وابن السبيل: من كان له مال في وطنه وهو في مكان لا شيء له فيه
Translation: Ibn al-sabīl owns wealth at home but has no resources where he is staying.

A traveller may have assets in their home country yet lack access to funds at the present location. The relevant issue is immediate inability to use those resources.

For example, someone who loses access to money during an otherwise lawful journey illustrates the situation.

11. Overview of the recipient classes

فهذه جهات الزكاة
Translation: These are the authorised directions of zakat expenditure.

The chapter begins with eight Quranic headings and then states its Hanafi treatment of muʾallafat al-qulūb. Each of the remaining directions has its own conditions.

Actual eligibility requires looking at the recipient’s circumstances and a legally valid method of payment.

12. One category may receive the entire amount

وللمالك أن يدفع إلى كل واحد منهم وله أن يقتصر على صنف واحد
Translation: The owner may pay any of these categories or restrict payment to one category.

This Hanafi rule does not require every payer to divide zakat among all eight Quranic categories. Payment to one legally eligible category can suffice.

The recipient still has to qualify; choosing one category does not waive eligibility.

13. Zakat to a dhimmī under this ruling

ولا يجوز أن يدفع الزكاة إلى ذمي
Translation: Obligatory zakat is not paid to a dhimmī in this ruling.

Dhimmī is a historical juristic term for a non-Muslim resident under Muslim governance. The statement concerns distribution of obligatory zakat in this Hanafi chapter.

It must not be turned into a general prohibition on ordinary gifts or voluntary aid to non-Muslims.

14. The requirement of ownership transfer

Tamlīk is an essential Hanafi concept here: zakat property must validly pass into the ownership of an eligible recipient.

Spending money on a useful project without such ownership transfer is not, by itself, the same as discharging the zakat obligation. It explains several exclusions that follow.

15. Zakat and mosque construction

ولا يبنى بها مسجد
Translation: A mosque is not built from zakat funds.

Building a mosque is a good act, but the arrangement described does not transfer zakat property to an eligible individual. Thus the manual excludes direct mosque construction from obligatory zakat disbursement.

Voluntary donations for construction are a different category.

16. Shrouding the deceased

ولا يكفن بها ميت
Translation: The deceased is not shrouded using zakat money.

The need for a shroud is real, but direct spending on a deceased person does not constitute transfer of zakat wealth to an eligible living owner.

Funeral costs may be assisted from other permitted funds. The present exclusion concerns discharging obligatory zakat through this direct expense.

17. Direct purchase and manumission

ولا يشترى بها رقبة تعتق
Translation: Zakat money is not used directly to buy an enslaved person and set that person free.

The book distinguishes direct purchase-and-manumission from financial assistance to a qualifying mukātab.

The two are different legal transactions under the Hanafi transfer-of-ownership analysis. This is a historical legal discussion, not a description of a modern lawful commercial practice.

18. The wealthy are not eligible

ولا تدفع إلى غني
Translation: Zakat is not given to someone legally considered wealthy.

Ghanī means a person who fails the recipient-eligibility test through sufficient qualifying property. Appearance and occupation alone do not decide that status.

The later text includes ownership of the equivalent of a nisab in property beyond essential needs.

19. Parents and direct ascendants

ولا يدفع المزكي زكاته إلى أبيه وجده وإن علا
Translation: The zakat payer does not pay zakat to a father, grandfather or more remote direct ascendants.

Direct ascendants include one’s father and grandfathers as well as mother and grandmothers.

Supporting needy parents through other lawful funds is distinct from using one’s own obligatory zakat to them.

20. Children and direct descendants

ولا إلى ولده وولد ولده وإن سفل
Translation: Nor to a child or the child’s descendants, however far down the line.

Direct descendants include sons, daughters, grandchildren and further generations through either line.

The exclusion arises from direct parent-child lineage and applies separately from the normal wealth test.

21. Husband paying his wife

ولا إلى امرأته
Translation: Nor does a husband pay obligatory zakat to his wife.

In the rule given here, a husband cannot discharge his own zakat by paying it to his wife even if she needs support.

The next clause addresses the reverse direction and reports an explicit intra-Hanafi disagreement.

22. Wife paying her husband: the disagreement

ولا تدفع المرأة إلى زوجها عند أبي حنيفة وقال أبو يوسف ومحمد: تدفع إليه
Translation: According to Abu Hanifah, a wife does not pay her zakat to her husband; Abu Yusuf and Muhammad permit it.

The difference must be kept explicit. Abu Hanifah disallows the wife’s payment to her husband. The two disciples allow it if he otherwise qualifies.

Do not reverse or erase the disagreement; the husband-to-wife rule is stated separately.

23. One’s own slave or mukātab

ولا يدفع إلى مكاتبه ولا مملوكه
Translation: He does not pay zakat to his own mukātab or slave.

Giving money to someone who remains under one’s own ownership fails the relevant legal requirements in this historical framework.

This is different from assisting another person’s eligible mukātab under the bondage category.

24. Wealthy owner’s slave and young child

ولا مملوك غني ولا ولد غني إذا كان صغيرا
Translation: Nor to a wealthy person’s slave or that person’s minor child.

The rule about children expressly says “when young.” It should not be broadened into a blanket ruling on all adult children of wealthy parents; adults require individual assessment.

The slave-related clause belongs to the historical legal setting.

25. Banū Hāshim and their mawālī

ولا تدفع إلى بني هاشم وهم: آل علي وآل عباس وآل جعفر وآل عقيل وآل حارث بن عبد المطلب ومواليهم
Translation: Zakat is not paid to Banū Hāshim: the households of Ali, Abbas, Jafar, Aqil and al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib, or their mawālī.

The passage expressly enumerates these five lines together with their historical mawālī. The rule must not be shortened to one household alone.

Mawālī here describes a particular historical patronage/manumission relationship.

26. Scope of the Banū Hāshim restriction

The exclusion concerns obligatory zakat as described in the manual. It must not be extended mechanically to every gift or form of voluntary help.

Eligibility also requires reliable information about lineage and the relevant juristic details, not assumptions based on a surname.

27. Mistaken recipient thought to be poor

وقال أبو حنيفة ومحمد: إذا دفع الزكاة إلى رجل يظنه فقيرا ثم بان أنه غني
Translation: Abu Hanifah and Muhammad state: if zakat is paid to a person believed poor and he is later discovered wealthy ... (the ruling continues below).

The phrase “believing him to be poor” is important. Under the stated Hanafi position, a good-faith mistaken assessment does not necessarily require paying again.

This is not permission knowingly to pay an ineligible person; juristic discussions distinguish reasonable inquiry and deliberate disregard.

28. Mistaken identity: Hāshimī or non-Muslim

أو هاشمي أو كافر
Translation: Or later finds the recipient was a Hāshimī or non-Muslim.

These words continue the case of a payer who believed the recipient eligible. The true identity emerges later.

Abu Hanifah and Muhammad apply the no-repeat ruling in the specified mistaken-payment case; Abu Yusuf disagrees, as the text next states.

29. Mistaken parent or child in the dark

أو دفع في ظلمة إلى فقير ثم بان أنه أبوه أو ابنه فلا إعادة عليه
Translation: Or he gave to a poor person in darkness who later proved to be his father or son; then no repayment is required in that view.

This example concerns a genuine mistake of identity. The ordinary bar against paying a parent or child still stands.

The point under discussion is whether an already-made mistaken payment has to be repeated under the view of Abu Hanifah and Muhammad.

30. Abu Yusuf’s contrary view

وقال أبو يوسف عليه الإعادة
Translation: Abu Yusuf says the payer must repeat the payment.

The juristic disagreement is about repeating zakat after a payment made under mistaken belief.

Abu Hanifah and Muhammad do not require repetition in the listed cases; Abu Yusuf requires it. The underlying eligibility restrictions are not thereby removed.

31. Own slave discovered afterward

ولو دفع إلى شخص ثم علم أنه عبده أو مكاتبه لم يجز في قولهم جميعا
Translation: If the recipient later turns out to be the payer’s own slave or mukātab, the payment does not count according to all of them.

The text explicitly says “according to all of them.” Unlike the preceding debated mistake cases, there is agreement that giving to one’s own enslaved person or mukātab does not discharge zakat.

The underlying ownership-transfer issue is decisive.

32. Owning a nisab and recipient eligibility

ولا يجوز دفع الزكاة إلى من يملك نصابا من أي مال كان
Translation: Zakat is not given to someone who owns the equivalent of a nisab in any kind of property.

“Any kind of property” expands the recipient-eligibility test beyond gold, silver or conventional zakatable holdings.

However, the Hanafi assessment distinguishes excess wealth from essential needs, such as necessary accommodation and working tools. The phrase is not a blanket instruction to value every household necessity as disposable wealth.

33. Below nisab and able to work

ويجوز دفعها إلى من يملك أقل من ذلك وإن كان صحيحا مكتسبا
Translation: Zakat may be given to someone who owns less than the nisab, even if healthy and earning.

Physical fitness and ability to work do not, by themselves, remove eligibility under this statement. The person’s actual financial position remains central.

An employed but needy person may qualify; the ordinary other conditions also remain applicable.

34. Necessary belongings versus surplus property

Hanafi eligibility distinguishes essential belongings from surplus property.

Ordinary accommodation, necessary clothing, household essentials and necessary trade tools have a different status from disposable surplus wealth.

Thus a worker should not be labelled wealthy solely because of required tools, while substantial nonessential assets cannot simply be ignored.

35. Transferring zakat to another town

ويكره نقل الزكاة من بلد إلى بلد آخر
Translation: Transferring zakat from one town to another is disliked.

The ordinary preference stated is to support local eligible recipients. “Disliked” here should not be confused with “the zakat payment is necessarily invalid.”

The author immediately provides two exceptions to this location preference.

36. Preference for local recipients

وإنما تفرق صدقة كل قوم فيهم
Translation: The zakat of each community is ordinarily distributed among its own people.

The manual makes local distribution the normal pattern. Local conditions and the needs of known eligible recipients are relevant.

This does not make an otherwise eligible outsider permanently ineligible: the next clause makes explicit exceptions.

37. Exception: eligible relatives elsewhere

إلا أن ينقلها الإنسان إلى قرابته
Translation: An exception is transferring it to one’s relatives.

This exception concerns relatives who are themselves eligible to receive the payer’s zakat—such as a needy sibling, where other conditions are met.

The location exception does not override the separate ban on using one’s own zakat for direct ascendants or descendants.

38. Exception: greater need elsewhere

أو إلى قوم هم أحوج من أهل بلده
Translation: Or to people who are more needy than those in the payer’s town.

A greater level of need elsewhere is the second express exception.

Whether payment is local or transferred, correct recipient eligibility and reliable delivery remain essential.

39. Synthesis: categories, kinship and errors

The chapter can be applied through four checkpoints:

1. Recipient category: the person or legally recognised purpose must qualify.
2. Transfer: the zakat must be discharged through an acceptable method, typically valid ownership transfer.
3. Restrictions: consider lineage, spouse, wealth, and the historical Banū Hāshim rule.
4. Errors and location: mistaken-recipient rulings and intercity transfers have their own conditions and scholarly differences.