Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterThe Ruling on Paying a Teacher’s Salary from Zakah
Question
Assalaam Aleikum Warahmatullahi Wabaraktu,Can you pay madrassa teachers in poor countries salary from part of your zaka. Shukran Jazaka Allah Khairan
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
It is not permissible to give Zakah in the form of salary for work, whether the work is teaching the Qur'an by memorization or teaching Islamic sciences, because Zakah has specific categories of recipients that Allah, the Exalted, has clearly defined.
Allah Almighty says (what means): {Alms-tax (Zakah) is only for the poor and the needy, for those employed to collect it, and to attract the hearts of those who have been inclined (towards Islam), and for freeing slaves, and for those in debt, and for Allah’s cause, and for the wayfarer (a traveler who is cut off from everything). This is an obligation prescribed by Allah. Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.} [Qur'an 9:60].
However, if a Qur’an memorization teacher, a teacher, or any other employee falls under one of the categories of zakat recipients mentioned in the verse, then it is permissible to give zakat to them because they are among its rightful recipients—not as payment for their work, but because they qualify as recipients. Thus, they are entitled to zakat due to their poverty, even if they were not employed at all.
Allah knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
