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What is the ruling on disbursing Zakat to the poor and needy among Jews and Christians?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The recipients of Zakat are restricted to eight categories as stated in the verse from Surat At-Tawbah: "Zakat expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [Zakat] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam]..." (At-Tawbah: 60). It is not permissible to give Zakat to a non-Muslim unless they are among those "whose hearts are to be reconciled [to Islam]," based on what Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "It is taken from their rich and given back to their poor." The pronoun "their" refers to Muslims. Ibn Al-Mundhir reported a consensus that it is not permissible to give Zakat to non-Muslims under the categories of the poor and the needy.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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