Iftar from Zakah

It is very a common question or practice of the people that they have arranged the iftar, sahur, or food using Zakah money, is it allowed???

By doing so they are committing two mistakes.

A. Arranging Iftar, sahur etc is a form of worship,  it can be served for rich and the poor as well. Hence, rich might be eating there which is not allowed.

B. Allah ordered us to give the money to the poor. They know better their necessities. We are not allowed to decide what they should receive. We might be giving them clothes, medicine etc, while their urgent or dire need might be something else.

Hence, the principle is that we must give them the wealth and they can use it as per their need.

It is also observed that many of the poor people sell the items they received to convert it into cash, which is a loss for them.

The points that are mentioned above are the general principles agreed upon by all the Scholars.

However, sometimes due to a specific situation exceptions can be made, which shouldn't become the norm.

May Allah protect us from mistakes and help us to implement the Deen in letter and spirit. 

Sheikh Abdus Salam al-Madani 

Founder,

Aspire College of Excellence in Chennai and Bangalore