Zakat on the wealth of a sister with a mental disability who is not legally responsible

A question about zakat on the wealth of a sister with mental and physical illness who is not legally responsible and whose money has reached the minimum, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department set out the majority view that it is due and the Hanafi view that it is not, and concluded that it is due on the majority view and paid by the guardian, with a sharia judge authorising payment if the money is held by official institutions. ¹

The questioner asked about paying zakat for his sister, who is mentally and physically ill and not legally responsible, noting that her money has reached the zakat minimum and falls each month by the amount of her treatment and other expenses without dropping below the minimum. ¹

The Department answered that zakat becomes due when its conditions are met: Islam, freedom, an identified owner, complete ownership, reaching the minimum, and the passing of a year where a year is required. ¹ It said the Shafi'is, with the Malikis and Hanbalis, hold zakat due on the wealth of a minor or a person without sound mind because of the general wording of the texts, quoting Shams al-Din al-Ramli in Nihayat al-Muhtaj that zakat is not purely an act of worship confined to the legally responsible and that the guardian is the one addressed with paying it. ¹ It noted that the Hanafis do not hold it due, since it is an act of worship performed only by choice and intention, quoting al-Marghinani in al-Hidaya. ¹ It pointed out that this applies when the money is in the guardian's hands; if it is held by official institutions, a sharia judge has the authority to permit paying zakat, and judges usually follow Abu Hanifa's view that zakat is not due on an orphan's money, as in decision No. 83 of the Jordanian Iftaa Council. ¹ It concluded that, on the majority view, zakat is due on the wealth of a minor or a person without sound mind once it reaches the minimum and a year passes without its falling below the minimum, recurring every year, and that the guardian pays it when the money is under his control. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3947, dated 10 February 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.