Giving Zakah to a poor person who wants to start his own business

Question

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
Can I give Zakat to someone in India who is very poor and wants to start his own business, so he doesn’t have to take Zakat again?

Answer

Wa alaykum al-salam

If the poor individual does not have any wealth that reaches the amount of nisab (threshold) or if he does have wealth that reaches the nisab but it is immersed in hajat e asliya (day-to-day essentials like a home or clothing etc.) and beyond these essentials he does not have any wealth that reaches the nisab, then it is permissible to give him zakah as he is deserving of it.

Radd al-Muhtar 3/333

However, he must not be from the Banu Hashim (children of either one of the following: Mawla Ali, Sayyiduna Ja’far, Sayyiduna Aqil, Sayyiduna Abbas or Sayyiduna Harith ibn Muttalib radiyAllahu anhum)

al-Fatawa al-Hindiyyah 1/189

And Allah knows best
Muhammad Kalim
21 Ramadan 1438

Verified by Mufti Zahid Hussain al-Qadiri

Authors

Mufti Zahid Hussain al-Qadiri, Muhammad Kalim