Who Can Lawfully Receive Zakat and Who Cannot
Al-Kāfi|Volume 3|Book 5|Chapter 43
6ـ صَفْوَانُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ وَهْبٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) عَنِ الرَّجُلِ يَكُونُ لَهُ ثَلاَثُمِائَةِ دِرْهَمٍ أَوْ أَرْبَعُمِائَةِ دِرْهَمٍ وَلَهُ عِيَالٌ وَهُوَ يَحْتَرِفُ فَلاَ يُصِيبُ نَفَقَتَهُ فِيهَا أَ يُكِبُّ فَيَأْكُلَهَا وَلاَ يَأْخُذَ الزَّكَاةَ أَوْ يَأْخُذُ الزَّكَاةَ قَالَ لاَ بَلْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَى فَضْلِهَا فَيَقُوتُ بِهَا نَفْسَهُ وَمَنْ وَسِعَهُ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عِيَالِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الْبَقِيَّةَ مِنَ الزَّكَاةِ وَيَتَصَرَّفُ بِهَذِهِ لاَ يُنْفِقُهَا.
6. From Safwan ibn Yahya has narrated from MtFawiyah ibn Wahab who has said the following: “I once asked abu ’Abd Allah عليه السلام, about a man who has three hundred or four hundred dirham. He has a family to feed and has a profession that he practices but he cannot earn his expenses. Is he required to restrict himself within what he earns, and not to receive Zakat, or that he can receive Zakat also. He (the Imam) said, ‘No, he must use the extra (profit from his dirham not the capital) for his expenses and his dependents and receive the deficit from Zakat, use dirham in business and must not spend it.’”
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 38