Who to give Zakat?

[Proud2baMuslim]

Assalamualaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

I need to ask how can you find out people who deserves Zakat? Today, almost all people have T.V in their homes, no matter how poor they are! I have heard a lot of times that those who have T.V ( because it's out of necessity ) in their homes are not deserving and infact your zakat won't be accepted if paid to them. Is this the case? If so, then who to give to? I know a lot of people who don't have even food to eat, but they have T.v so what to do? I was discussing this with my mum a couple of days back and she said that then its nearly impossible to find out anyone who's really deserving and so Allah swt will accept my Zakat He's very Merciful.

If we don't find anyone in our locality or if its hard to do this, then can we give all the money to authentic trusts? Shall we still be sinful? Because we've been asked to prefer near ones first and then others.. :s

Any help would be much appreciated.

Jazakumullaho Ahsan al Jaza.

[sky_blue]

Walikum salam warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu

You are very much right, many people who are poor and even not have food to eat have tv in their houses,, but it is right to give them zakat, as they are poor people of society and if they are in your neighbour than they have more rights... Secondly its true that how u can find the deserving people for zakat,,, because you may not know the conditions of their homes that what they have and what they dont have in their house... so i think if you know some poor people you can give them zakat, irrespective that they have tv in their house or not. If your intentions is just to get the blessings of Allah, than sure Allah will reward you.

Moreover, if you have trust on some particular Organisation, which are working for the poor people than it is also good to give zakat to such organisation.

Allah knows best.

[Proud2baMuslim]

Jazakallah khayr for your reply but I'd like to hear this from a scholar.

[Proud2baMuslim]

*Bump*

[Husain]

It should be borne in mind that Zakah, in addition to being an important pillar of Islam and a great Ibadah, is also a "loan" that one is advancing now and will receive in the Hereafter.

Now, before giving someone a loan, the person credit-worthiness is appraised and his credit rating is checked.
Similarly, before giving Zakah to someone, you will have to check up on his "Zakah-worthiness".

If a "Zakah-worthiness" check is done prior to giving him the zakah, then the zakah would be discharged, even if it later becomes known that he wasn't deserving of zakah.
If a check wasn't done, then the zakah wouldn't be discharged if he wasn't deserving.

This is similar to the mas'alah of making taharri( applying the mnd) when unsure of the qiblah. If one makes taharri, then performs salah, this salah would be valid, even if performed in the wrong direction, while if taharri wasn't done, then the salah wouldn't be valid to the wrong direction.

Now, one has to ensure that the person receiving zakah does not have assets to the value of nisab, over the above their basic needs.
Basic needs are a home, car, utensils, furniture, phone etc
while things over and above that are a TV, radio, ornaments, luxuries etc.

If an addition to a TV, a person possesses these items, whose total value reaches nisab, then he cannot receive zakah.

Finding deserving recepients of zakat is a problem at times.

You could:
- Prepare a list of questions to ask the person prior to giving him your zakah. Ask him if he has a tv, radio, etc in his homes and the estimated values of each
- Give your zakah to a reliable organisation which does proper checks on people
- Give your zakah to someone in debt.

This last option is an easy way to give zakah to a family member, who might be deserving, yet has assets to more than the value of nisab.
So if there is a widow to whom you wish to give zakah, who inspite of not possessing an income, she might have certain possessions or jewelery that she refuses to dispose of, to the value of R5000. The nisab is R2500.
Thus she is over the value of nisab by R2500. If she is owing more than R2500 to someone, she will be eligible for zakat.
So if one family member gives her a loan to that value, then this widow could then take zakat, as long as she is in debt.

And Allah Ta'ala knows best

[Proud2baMuslim]

Jazakallaho khayran katheera Mufti sahib for such a detailed and clear explanation.

Request for Dua's.

[Lihualee]

Thanks! Bump!