Can zakat money be used to build a mosque or fund a general charity project?

Generally, no — this is one of the more consistently held positions across the major schools. The Quran specifies eight categories eligible for zakat: the poor, the needy, zakat administrators, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, freeing captives, those in debt, "in the way of Allah," and stranded travelers — and zakat must go directly to a qualifying person within one of these categories, becoming their personal property. A mosque, well, school building, or general relief fund is not a person and cannot "own" money the way an individual recipient does, so most classical and contemporary scholars hold such projects fall outside strict zakat and should instead be funded through sadaqah (voluntary charity) or waqf (endowments). Some contemporary scholars interpret the category "in the way of Allah" more broadly to include public-benefit projects serving the Muslim community, and a minority of fatwa councils have permitted zakat for mosque construction or similar projects on this basis, particularly where strong communal need exists. Given the difference of opinion, if you want a mosque or project funded specifically from zakat, it's best to seek guidance from a scholar you trust, or simply direct that giving to sadaqah instead.

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