Zakat stolen from the madrasa’s rector: the ruling on liability

Question

Question: Zayd gave Umar five rupees of zakat so that he would distribute them among the students of his madrasa. Umar is the rector of the madrasa. As it happened, those five rupees were stolen from Umar by students of the same madrasa. Has the zakat been discharged by the zakat property being stolen in this way? If not, then who owes these five rupees of stolen property — Zayd or Umar?

Answer

For zakat, transfer of ownership (tamlik) is a condition; even granting permission to use (ibaha) is not sufficient, let alone the recipient of zakat (masraf) stealing it. If Umar, the rector of the madrasa, is merely the agent (wakil) of the giver of zakat, then in the case asked about the zakat has not been discharged.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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