Wife giving her zakaat to her husband


Question 450

Is this permissible to my wife to give me zakat from her gold? Afterwards I will give hadiya to her . Next year we continue this process is it permissible?

Answer :

It is permissible for the wife to give her zakat to her husband if the husband is poor and is eligible to take zakat.

The proof for this is the hadeeth of Abu Saeed that the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) told to Zainab -wife of Ibn Masood- that ‘Your husband and your son have more right among whom you give the sadaqah’. [Al Bukhari – 1462].

And afterwards it is permissible for him to spend that money on his family expenses and the his family include his wife.

But if there is a prior agreement between the wife and the husband that the husband will take the zakat and return to the wife, then this is not permitted. This is like a well known issue of giving zakat to a poor person to give it back as payment of loan that he took from him.

Answered by : Shaykh Abu Bilal Al Hadhrami

Translated the summary of the answer by : AbdunNoor Al Hindi