Giving Zakah to orphan children of different religions

16-3-2013 | IslamWeb

Question:

salam, Is it permissible to donate zakat money to organization whch takes of orphan children of different religions?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Zakah (i.e. obligatory almsgiving) is not given to the orphan just because he is an orphan, since he may be wealthy and thus he will not be entitled to be given Zakah. Also, Zakah is not to be given to the non-Muslim as we have clarified in Fatwa 82875. Accordingly, it is not permissible to give Zakah to that organization unless you know that it will give it to the poor or needy Muslim orphans.

On the other hand, many scholars stipulated that the agent of the Zakah (who is delegated to distribute it) should be Muslim. It was stated in Al-Insaaf fi Ma‘rifat Ar-Raajih min Al-Khilaaf: "The composer (i.e. Ibn Qudaamah) said: It is permissible to deputize someone to give Zakah, and it is valid to do so, but on condition that this person be trustworthy. This was stated by Imaam Ahmad. He [That person] should also be a Muslim, according to the correct view. It is stated in Al-Faa'iq: He should be Muslim according to the more correct of the two opinions (in the Hanbali school of jurisprudence). This opinion was also given priority in Al-Furoo‘ and Al-Mukhtasar of Ibn Tameem. But Al-Qaadhi reported in At-Ta‘leeq an opinion that it is permissible to deputize a Thimmi (i.e. the non-Muslim who is living in a Muslim state) to give out Zakah." [End quote]

Allaah Knows best.