A Person’s Performing Hajj and so on with Zakat He Has Received

1. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Ibn Abi ‘Umayr from Jamil ibn Darraj from ’Isma‘il al- Ash’ariy from al-Hakam ibn ‘Utaybah who has said the following: “I once asked abu ’Abd Allah عليه السلام, about a man who gives Zakat to a man to perform Hajj. He (the Imam) said, ‘It is Zakat money and he performs Hajj!’ I then said, ‘It is a Muslim man who gives Zakat to a Muslim man.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘If he is needy, Zakat must be given to him for his needs and poverty, and one must not say to him to perform Hajj. It is up to him to use as he likes.’”