Appointing an agent to distribute zakat and charity

A question about appointing an agent to distribute zakat and charity and the conditions for doing so, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that it is permitted if the agent is reliable and trustworthy, and set out conditions the agent must keep. ¹

The questioner asked about the ruling on appointing an agent to distribute zakat and charity, and about its conditions. ¹

The Department answered that a person who owes zakat may appoint someone else to distribute it, provided the agent is reliable, honest and trustworthy, and that the payer forms the intention of zakat when appointing a non-Muslim agent. ¹ It said the agent may take nothing of the zakat for himself or for those he must support, citing al-Nawawi's al-Majmu that when the owner or his agent distributes zakat, the share of the zakat collectors lapses. ¹ It said the agent must deliver it to those entitled without delay, citing al-Khatib al-Shirbini's Mughni al-Muhtaj that zakat must be paid immediately. ¹ It said zakat is given to the poor directly, so no mosque, school or hospital may be built from it, since these are not among the designated categories, citing Ibn Qasim al-Ghazzi's Fath al-Qarib that 'in the way of God' means volunteer fighters. ¹ It said the agent must keep to the payer's stipulations on where and in what form it is distributed, citing al-Bujayrimi that a donor's stipulation is like that of the founder of an endowment: if the payer specified cash, the agent may not give food or goods, and if he specified food this is allowed on the Hanafi view that value may be given; it cited al-Nawawi's al-Majmu that the Shafi'is do not allow giving value, while Abu Hanifa does. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3920, dated 7 November 2024. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.