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Fatwa CenterBrother giving Zakat to his sister
Question
I would like to clear some doubts about Zakaat. In your site Fatwa: 84467 you said that brother and sister can give Zakaat. But in Fatwa: 87707 you say brother cannot give Zakaat if it is compulsory to spend on her. I do not understand the difference. Hope you will answer this question.
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 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
There is no contradiction between the two Fatwas that you have mentioned. If a sister is poor and has no one to spend on her like a father, a husband or a son, then her brother is obliged to spend on her according to some scholars 
. In this case, he is not allowed to give Zakah [obligatory charity] of his own money to her because it is not permissible for a person to give Zakah to whom he is obliged to spend on. By giving his Zakah to her, he is in effect renouncing that he is obligated to spend on her, and therefore he is in fact the first one to benefit from the Zakah of his wealth. However, if the sister has a husband, son or father, and yet she is poor, then the brother is not obliged to spend on her. The people who are obliged to spend on her are those who take care of her like the father, the husband, and the son. So, in this case, he can give Zakah to her because he is not required in principle to spend on her. If he gives Zakah to her under these circumstances, then he is not benefiting from his own money.
To conclude, it is not permissible for a person to pay Zakah to the people whom he is obliged to spend on but he should instead give it to the people he is not obliged to spend on. If a brother is obliged to spend on his sister, he is not allowed to give the Zakah of his wealth to her. But if he is not obliged to spend on her and she is considered among the people who are eligible for Zakah, he is permitted to give the Zakah of his own money to her as she comes in priority. In this case: he is fulfilling his obligation of paying the Zakat as well as keeping ties with kinship.
We hope that the picture is now clear for the questioner.
Allaah Knows best.
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