Masarif al-Zakat fi al-Islam
- Author died
- 1440 AH
- Editions
- Safir Press
Masarif al-Zakat fi al-Islam (Masārif al-Zakāh fī al-Islām: Mafhūm, wa-Shurūṭ, wa-Anwāʿ, wa-Aḥkām fī Ḍawʾ al-Kitāb wa-al-Sunnah, "The Recipients of Zakat in Islam: Concept, Conditions, Categories, and Rulings in Light of the Quran and Sunnah") is a legal treatise by Saeed bin Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE) examining the legitimate beneficiaries of obligatory zakat and the legal parameters governing its disbursement .
Composition and Context
The work was completed in Riyadh on Sunday afternoon, 14 Rabiʿ al-Thani 1426 AH (2005 CE), and was published as treatise number 49 within the author's collected series of short legal and religious monographs (Rasāʾil Saʿīd ibn ʿAlī ibn Wahf al-Qaḥṭānī) . In preparing the study, al-Qahtani drew substantially upon the legal verifications and preferred juristic positions of his teacher Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah Ibn Baz .
Contents and Structure
The treatise provides an analysis of zakat distribution grounded directly in scriptural evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah :
- Definition and Scope of Recipients: The author defines masārif (avenues or recipients of disbursement) linguistically and technically, demonstrating that Islamic law strictly restricts zakat eligibility to specific recipients rather than permitting unrestricted public spending .
- The Eight Prescribed Categories: The work examines the eight categories of recipients designated in إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالعَامِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَالغَارِمِينَ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ ("Alms are meant only for the poor, the needy, those who administer them, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, for freeing slaves, for those in debt, in the cause of God, and for travelers"). For each category, al-Qahtani details its definition, the allotted financial share, scriptural proofs, and the virtue associated with disbursing zakat to it .
- Ineligible Recipients: The text delineates the classifications of individuals and entities to whom paying zakat is legally invalid, providing the textual evidence and juristic rationale for each exclusion .
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