Giving students quilts from zakat and taking them back

Question

A sum from zakat funds came to a madrasa. The rector had quilts, bedding and the like made for the students. Now the madrasa’s annual examination has taken place, and the head teacher of the madrasa took back from the students the quilts and bedding that the rector had given them — because it may happen that these students do not return from home to this madrasa, and the students who come next year will make use of them; [so] he took them back. Is it permissible to do this or not?

Answer

For zakat to be discharged it is necessary to make [the recipient] an owner; merely lending [something] for use does not discharge the zakat. If some official of a madrasa gives zakat property as a loan for use (‘ariyya)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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