Paying Zakat to Small Dependents of a Believer or Offset a Loan
Al-Kāfi|Volume 3|Book 5|Chapter 31
1ـ عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ حَمَّادِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ حَرِيزٍ عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ قَالَ قُلْتُ لأَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) الرَّجُلُ يَمُوتُ وَيَتْرُكُ الْعِيَالَ أَ يُعْطَوْنَ مِنَ الزَّكَاةِ قَالَ نَعَمْ حَتَّى يَنْشَوْا وَيَبْلُغُوا وَيَسْأَلُوا مِنْ أَيْنَ كَانُوا يَعِيشُونَ إِذَا قُطِعَ ذَلِكَ عَنْهُمْ فَقُلْتُ إِنَّهُمْ لاَ يَعْرِفُونَ قَالَ يُحْفَظُ فِيهِمْ مَيِّتُهُمْ وَيُحَبَّبُ إِلَيْهِمْ دِينُ أَبِيهِمْ فَلاَ يَلْبَثُوا أَنْ يَهْتَمُّوا بِدِينِ أَبِيهِمْ فَإِذَا بَلَغُوا وَعَدَلُوا إِلَى غَيْرِكُمْ فَلاَ تُعْطُوهُمْ.
1. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Hammad ibn ‘Isa from Hariz from abu Basir who has said the following: “I once asked abu ’Abd Allah عليه السلام, about a man who dies and leaves behind dependents. Can Zakat be given to them? He (the Imam) said, ‘Yes, until they grow up, become adults and ask (themselves) by what means could they live and survive if that Zakat was cut off from them. I then said, ‘They do not know. He (the Imam) said, ‘The memories of their dead must be preserved and the religion of their father must be made beloved to them, so that they pay attention to the religion of their father; and if they become adults and decide to go to others; then do not give them any Zakat.”
- Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (16/88)
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 29