October 1, 2024
The number of refugees in the world has never been higher, and it is still increasing at an unprecedented rate. Can I lawfully pay my Zakat to them?
Yes, you can pay your Zakat to refugees, according to the opinion of a number of modern Zakat scholars.
But this question needs clarifying and context.
An Overview
This question raises two others. What is a refugee? And are refugees an explicit Zakat-recipient category?
what is a refugee?
The label “refugee” in our time has a specific international meaning.
When conflict or disaster drives a person out of his or her home and lands into another country, that person is designated a refugee.
If a person is compelled to leave home and locality but stays within his or her homeland, that person is identified as an Internally Displaced Person (IDP).
If the refugee seeks legal acceptance and protection in the foreign country they have sought refuge in, he or she is called an asylee, someone legally granted or being considered for asylum.
Each of these classifications describes “forced displacement” or “involuntary migration.”
The international humanitarian world names these three types of migrating people the “forcibly displaced.”
Forced displacement is one of the greatest crises of our times, and it is growing wildly. People are forcibly displaced by both “natural” and human causes. The distinction between the two is not as clear as it might seem. Many natural disasters (weather, geological, or atmospheric events) are climate driven, ultimately caused by human activity.
Human catastrophes (persecution, conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations, socio-political and economic collapse, and lawlessness) may also be driven by ecological changes that create resource scarcity.
There are more than 120 million forcibly displaced people in our world, nine months into 2024. Its growth has been exponential.
are refugees a zakat category?
There is no explicit Zakat category for refugees. But two Zakat principles will help us understand why some modern scholars rule that refugees can lawfully receive Zakat payments:
Zakat is paid on eligible wealth to eligible people. That’s why it’s called Zakat al-Mal, The Purifying-Alms of Wealth. Your wealth triggers its payment. But the Zakat-recipient categories are human beings, not good causes or beneficial public works.
God did not specify Muslims suffering from disaster or violence among the divinely-revealed, exclusive eight categories of eligible Zakat recipients.
Here’s the Quran verse (ayah) that establishes the Zakat obligation for Muslims:
Indeed, prescribed charitable offerings are only to be given to the poor and the indigent, and to those who work on administering it, and to those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free those in bondage, and to the debt-ridden, and for the cause of God, and to the wayfarer. This is an obligation from Allah. And Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.”
(Surat Al-Tawbah, 9:60)
The Prophet, on him be peace, stressed to us that God is the One who set these exclusive Zakat-recipient categories so that we would observe this instruction closely.
Allah permitted not even a prophet to determine Zakat [-worthiness]. Rather, He Himself ruled on it and permitted it in eight cases. …”
(Abu Dawud)
So, here are the eight categories of people God specified as Zakat-eligible:
The poor (al-fuqarâ’), meaning low-income or indigent
The needy (al-masâkîn), meaning someone who is in difficulty
Zakat administrators (al-‘amilin ‘alayha)
Those whose hearts are to be reconciled, meaning new Muslims and friends of the Muslim community (al-mu’alafat qulub)
Those in bondage (slaves and captives) (fi riqab).
The debt-ridden (al-gharimin)
In the cause of God (fi sabili’Llah)
The wayfarer, meaning those who are stranded or on the road with few resources (ibn al-sabil)
In what Zakat category do refugees fit to receive Zakat payments?
First, some scholars cite Zakat Category Six (the debt-ridden, al-gharimin) as including those particularly struck by natural disasters.
They cite an authentic (sahih) report from the Prophet, on him be peace, as evidence. In it, a man asks the Prophet, on him be peace, for debt-payment help.
We know from the hadith explanation that a disaster destroyed the man’s property. We know from the hadith itself that the Prophet, on him be peace, expressly says that those struck by calamity that destroys their property have a right to ask for charitable material assistance until they return to a condition of necessary sufficiency (something forbidden to Muslims as sinful except in three cases).
Moreover, the Prophet, on him be peace, states in this hadith that he will pay the assistance the man is seeking from Zakat.
The Companion Qabisa Ibn Al-Mukhariq Al-Hilali said:
“I was in debt and went to Allah’s Messenger, God’s prayers of blessings on him and peace, and asked him for [alms] to [pay] it.
“He said:
‘Wait until we receive the sadaqah [meaning Zakat-Charity collections]. Then we shall instruct that it be given [to you].’
“Then [the Prophet, on him be peace] said:
‘Qabisah, asking for charitable assistance is not lawful save for one of three:
‘A man who bears a debt-burden. Solicitation is lawful for him, until he attains it. Thereafter, he must withhold himself.
‘A man whom calamity strikes, destroying his property. Solicitation is lawful for him, until he attains the essentials of life.
‘And a man whom poverty afflicts, as affirmed by three informed men from his community who testify: “Most surely, impoverishment has struck so and so.” Solicitation is lawful for him.
‘Apart from these three causes, Qabisa, asking for charitable assistance is forbidden, and whoever does so consumes what is forbidden.’” (Muslim).
The scholars have specified the meaning of being stricken by a “calamity that destroys one’s property” (ja’ihatun ajtahat maluhu) as a flood, fire, and the like, or the condition of becoming circumstantially unable to provide the necessities of life for oneself and dependents.
The late Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qardawi, an expert in Quran commentary, but whose name in our time became synonymous with legal rulings in Islam for the generality of Muslims, said in this regard:
I specify the characteristics of the debt-ridden (al-gharimin) for victims of natural disasters who sustain such massive destruction to their property that it forces them into debt. This makes it a lawful ruling for them to receive Zakat. (The Law of Zakat)
The prophetic statement just cited, permitting those struck by disaster to ask for charitable material assistance, is part of the basis for this ruling.
This includes climate refugees, nor should it be artificially limited to the modern definition of “refugee,” as one forcibly displaced from his home and locality who has crossed a national border.
National boundaries provide no meaningful distinction when it comes to determining Zakat-eligibility (like becoming debt-ridden through disaster) beyond what God Himself has specified and His Prophet, on him be peace, has demonstrated or explained.
Hence, the internally displaced person (IDP) and the refugee are equal in this case.
Furthermore, neither does the limitation of “natural” versus “human-caused” disaster apply in the legal reasoning of determining Zakat eligibility. Again, in this age of human-caused extreme weather calamities (and other disasters), one can hardly distinguish between the two in many cases. So, if a disaster renders one debt-ridden, we may apply this ruling to all similarly calamity-stricken.
But this brings us to a second Zakat-recipient category that may better suit the classification of refugees and IDPs as Zakat eligible.
The refugee and IDP as modern-day wayfarer (ibn al-sabil)
Many prominent modern legal scholars consider the forcibly displaced – “driven out of their homes and lands by aggressors or who flee from dictatorial governments,” as Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qardawi points out – as fulfilling the description of this eighth Zakat-eligible category quite literally as “children of the road.”
They meet the two defining requirements of the categorical Zakat definition of the wayfarer:
They are forced to migrate and live away from their homes and properties for indeterminate periods.
They are separated from their wealth and livelihoods, unable to access or use them. It may even be confiscated, seized, or forfeited by the authorities.
Modern Hanafi scholars have actively sought to extend the category of Ibn Al-Sabil, arguing that one may live in one’s own town, yet be unfairly or by circumstances deprived of accessing one’s own wealth due to political persecution or economic injunctions.
They insist on categorizing such victims as ibn al-sabil wayfarers, eligible to receive Zakat as such.
What about orphans, child refugees, and IDPs?
Prominent turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Lebanese scholar Rashid Rida (1865-1935) made the argument a hundred years ago that abandoned or orphaned children are the very embodiment of ibna’ al-sabil, “children of the street.”
They are stranded, cut off from funds, and compelled into displacement. Therefore, all such children are Zakat-eligible under the wayfarer Zakat-recipient category.
The UN estimates the number of “street children” (ibna’ al-sabil) at a staggering 150 million.
In view of the rise of child trafficking, mostly for forced labor – with up to 11 million exposed children and nearly 4 million of these children exploited for labor – we can count especially children that are part of mass exoduses by forced displacement, particularly in conflict areas, as Zakat-eligible under the Zakat category of “children of the road.”
Might there be other divine categories of Zakat eligibility that apply to refugees and IDPs?
Yes. See Can Zakat Be Given to Victims of Conflict, Like in Gaza?
