Postal charges may not be taken out of zakat

Question

Zayd trades in India. Many Muslims of India used to render financial help, through Zayd, to the poor of the Haramayn (the two sacred cities, Makka and Madina) and to the muhajirs (emigrants) living there. The form of it was this: the money of India’s charitable people that Zayd collected he would send by bills of exchange (?)

Answer

Zayd may take one hundred and ten instead of one hundred rupees and send it, so that he suffers no loss (this is correct). Editor’s note: this applies when those ten rupees are not from zakat, because for zakat to be discharged it is necessary to make the deserving recipient (mustahiqq)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.