Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

Giving zakat as a birth gift

إعطاء الزكاة نقوطًا للولادة

A question on giving zakat to a friend in need in the form of a birth gift, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that this is allowed if the friend lacks enough for her needs and is not provided for by someone obliged to maintain her. The Department answered that zakat is a right due on wealth under its conditions, given to the eight categories named in the Qur'an. It defined nuqut as money or other things given at celebrations and occasions, and said the sounder view is that it is a gift to the person celebrating, not a loan to be returned, quoting Ibn Hajar al-Haytami. It concluded that if the friend lacks enough for her needs and is not provided for by someone obliged to maintain her, the gift may be given and counted as zakat.

Depth

At a glance

Review
Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Summary

A question on giving zakat to a friend in need in the form of a birth gift, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that this is allowed if the friend lacks enough for her needs and is not provided for by someone obliged to maintain her. 1

The question

The questioner asked whether she may give her needy friend the zakat on her wealth as a gift (nuqut) for her baby's birth. 1

The answer

The Department answered that zakat is a right due on wealth under its conditions, given to the eight categories named in the Qur'an. 1 It defined nuqut as money or other things given at celebrations and occasions, and said the sounder view is that it is a gift to the person celebrating, not a loan to be returned, quoting Ibn Hajar al-Haytami. 1 It concluded that if the friend lacks enough for her needs and is not provided for by someone obliged to maintain her, the gift may be given and counted as zakat. 1

About this record

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3848, dated 28 December 2023. 1 The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.

Connections

Explore the connections

About
Zakat (alms tax)· Hiba (gift: its pillars, the parties, the thing given, possession, return and conditions)

People and things also explored

Hadiyya (gift)· Wealth in Islam· Muwatta 2020· Zakat (obligatory alms)· A charity using zakat to treat patients· A father taking back a gift to his child· A grandmother's gift to her grandchildren and a grandchild born later· A husband reclaiming the gold he gave his wife at the wedding

Sources

  1. Jordan's General Iftaa Department (aliftaa.jo) , fatwa 3848

Original page

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Giving zakat as a birth gift”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/fatwa-aliftaa-jo-zakat-given-as-a-birth-gift/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Words

Qur'an, hadith, poetry, and the languages and scripts of Muslim peoples. Related

Hadiyya (gift)

Hadiyya in the lexical sense is a thing of value sent to another as an honour; technically it is the transfer of a thing to another without return, a kind of gift (hiba) that differs in that it is carried to the recipient as a courtesy. It is complete when the giver sends it and the recipient takes it; no formula is required. The giver may retract before receipt, in the view of the majority. Where a gift comes in a container, the container is returned or held in trust depending on custom. At a circumcision or wedding, gifts suited to children go to the child, and others follow the kinship of the giver to the father or the mother. Gifts that officials and judges receive by virtue of office are forbidden; the Prophet's saying 'the gifts of officials are plunder' is cited. The imam may not accept gifts, according to the jurists. The mufti, preacher and teacher may accept, though it is better to refrain.