Fatwa ID: 03540

Answered by: Maulana Shadman Ahmed

Question

If a beneficiary of a trust is unemployed, and his share of the benefits he gets from the trust does not cover his month to month basic rent, electricity and water expenses, can he use trust zakaah? Jazakallah

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Receiving benefits from a trust does not make a person illegible for being a recipient of Zakat. If a person is below nisaab and doesn’t have anything that prevents Zakat, such as being from Banu Hashim, having more than nisaab amount of money or being a child, then the person cannot receive Zakat.[1]

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Shadman Ahmed

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

[1] Muḥammad Amīn `Ibn ’Abidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār ’Alā al-Durr al-Mukhtār, Vol. 2. Pg. 345. (Dār al-Fikr, 1252H)