aaa

New to Islam: Allowed to Give Zakah to Non-Muslim Charities?

25 September, 2019
Q Can new Muslims give zakah to local non-Muslim charities?

Answer

Dr. Jasser Auda
25 September, 2019

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

There is nothing wrong if new Muslims would like to pay their zakah to a charity in their community, even if it’s a non-Muslim charity

Answering your question, Dr. Jasser Auda, Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, states:

 There is nothing in the scripts, neither the Quran nor the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), that says it’s not allowed to give zakah to non-Muslims, especially if they are in need or relatives. They’ll earn a double reward for that. 

Therefore, paying your zakah to a local charity, even a non-Muslim charity, is allowed.

We read in the Quran:

“The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is knower, Wise.” (At-Tawbah 9:60)

By definition, “those whose hearts are to be reconciled” means the zakah that is given to non-Muslims.

Based on this verse, we see that it is permissible for a new Muslims to pay zakah to a local non-Muslim charity.  

Almighty Allah knows best.

conditions of Zakah Zakah to non-Muslims who can receive zakah
About Dr. Jasser Auda
Jasser Auda is a Professor and Al-Shatibi Chair of Maqasid Studies at the International Peace College South Africa, the Executive Director of the Maqasid Institute, a global think tank based in London, and a Visiting Professor of Islamic Law at Carleton University in Canada. He is a Founding and Board Member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, Fellow of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of India, and General Secretary of Yaqazat Feker, a popular youth organization in Egypt. He has a PhD in the philosophy of Islamic law from University of Wales in the UK, and a PhD in systems analysis from University of Waterloo in Canada. Early in his life, he memorized the Quran and studied Fiqh, Usul and Hadith in the halaqas of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo. He previously worked as: Founding Director of the Maqasid Center in the Philosophy of Islamic Law in London; Founding Deputy Director of the Center for Islamic Ethics in Doha; professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Alexandria University in Egypt, Islamic University of Novi Pazar in Sanjaq, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, and the American University of Sharjah. He lectured and trained on Islam, its law, spirituality and ethics in dozens of other universities and organizations around the world. He wrote 25 books in Arabic and English, some of which were translated to 25 languages.