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Q&A · Zakat

Must I split my zakat among all eight categories, or can I give it all to one?

The eight categories in Sūrat al-Tawbah define who may lawfully receive zakat, not a requirement that every payment be divided among all of them. The majority (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, and Ḥanbalī) hold that it is valid to give your zakat entirely to one category, or even to a single deserving person, and the Prophet's instruction to Muʿādh in Yemen — that it be "taken from their rich and given to their poor" — mentions only the poor as recipients. The Shāfiʿī school was historically stricter about distributing among available categories, but the widely-followed and easier position is that giving it all to the poor and needy is sufficient and correct.

Evidence — the daleel
Quran 9:60Sahih al-Bukhari 1395 ṢaḥīḥSahih Muslim 19 Ṣaḥīḥ
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Informational, not a personal fatwa. Consult a qualified scholar for rulings on your situation.

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