Zakah not given to one's young children

7-6-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. My husband's salary can only cover the rent. He has a piece of land that his mother gave him and some money in the bank which he plans to invest along with that land in order to build a house for us and maybe, if it is enough, to make a business that may give him a somehow secure future as he is not entlited to a pension at an old age and we have only daughters. He was able to save this money because I was the one who covered the expenses of the house. Question: In this situation, am I allowed to pay my zakah to my own minor children by buying them clothes, food, medication, etc. (taking in consideration that their father's salary does not cover their needs but that he has some money saved for the reason which I mentioned above)? Please note that the question is not: "Can I pay zakah to my husband?"

---

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 is His slave and Messenger.

Your daughters are not needy. Their father is obliged to spend on them, and he is capable of spending on them right now, as is clear from the question. Please, refer to fatwa 85012.

Therefore, they are not entitled to take zakah from you or from anyone else. Also, the view of the majority of the scholars is that it is not valid to give zakah to one's own child.

Hence, it is not permissible for you to count your spending on your children as zakah, but you will be rewarded for spending on them as this is helping your husband and keeping good marital relations with him.

Allaah knows best.