A mother paying her zakat to her children

A question about a mother paying her zakat to her children, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that a mother may give her zakat to her children if they are poor and eligible and not already adequately maintained by others. ¹

The questioner asked whether a mother may pay the zakat on her wealth to her children. ¹

The Department answered that a mother may give zakat to her children if they are eligible for it, for example if they are poor, have no wealth and are not adequately maintained by someone else. ¹ It cited a hadith narrated by al-Bukhari about Zaynab, the wife of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, whose meaning is that her husband and her child were the most deserving of her charity. ¹ It quoted al-Mawardi in al-Hawi al-Kabir (8/537) that a wife may pay her zakat to her husband, arguing from the general wording of the verse on the recipients of zakat, Surat al-Tawba 9:60, and from the hadith of Abu Hurayra about Zaynab. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4350, dated 16 March 2026. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.