Preferences among the Recipients of Zakat

1. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn abu Nasr from ‘Utaybah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Ajlan al-Sakuniy who has said the following: “I once asked abu Ja’far عليه السلام, about the case of my gifts, for keeping good relations, to my friends and how I should do it. He (the Imam) said, ‘Give it to them on the basis of their migration to religion, intelligence and fiqh (proper understanding of Shari ‘ah).’”