One Who Distributes Charity Has a Share in Rewards with the Donor of Charity

1. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from al-Hassan ibn Mahbub from Salih ibn Razin who has said the following: “Shihab ibn ‘ Abd Rabbihi gave to me a certain amount of dirhams of zakat to distribute among the needy. One day I visited him, and he asked, ‘Did you distribute them?’ I said, ‘No, I have not done so.’ He said something that I did not like. I then threw to him what still was not distributed and got up to leave. He said, ‘Come back and allow me to tell you about something that I heard from Ja’far ibn Muhammad عليه السلام.’ I returned and he said to me, ‘I asked abu ‘Abd Allah عليه السلام, “Can I give the amount of zakat I owe to someone I trust so he can distribute among the needy?” He (the Imam) replied, ‘It is just fine. He receives a reward like the donors of charity. Salih has said, “I then took the dirhams back after hearing the Hadith, and distributed them (among the needy).”’”