The Hila of Tamlik for Paying Zakat

Question

Khalid is an owner of the nisab. He gave fifty rupees of zakat to a poor man; the poor man, of his own free will and without compulsion, gifted them back to Khalid, and then Khalid gave them to the poor man again. The point is that Khalid uses a hila (legal device) to pay zakat and gives fifty rupees of zakat in place of one hundred or two hundred. Will Khalid’s zakat be valid by this hila?

Answer

In a case of the most extreme necessity — when zakat for past time is fard, there is no means of paying it, and there is no prospect of it in the near future — this hila is legitimate, and it is hoped that Allah Most High will grant deliverance from being called to account.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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