Shaykh Bin Baaz, may Allah have mercy upon him, was asked about the ruling on building Mosques from the money of Zakaat.
His reply:
What is well-known among all the scholars (of the past), and it is a view of the majority (of the later scholars), however it being like a consensus amongst the [early] scholars from the righteous predecessors that Zakaat is not to be spent in building mosques nor in purchasing books and so on. Rather it is to be spent in the eight types (of people) whom been mentioned in the ayah of Surah at Tawbah, them being
- Al Fuqara’a ( the poor), and;
- Al-Masaakeen (the needy), and;
- Those employed to collect (the funds), and;
- For to attract the hearts of those who have been inclined (towards Islam), and;
- To free the captives, and;
- For those in severe debt, and;
- For Allah’s Cause; and
- And for the wayfarer (a traveler who is cut off from everything)
[As for the meaning of] ‘for Allah’s cause’, then it is confined to Jihaad, this is well known to the scholars. It is absolutely not from that (i.e. Allah’s cause) that it is distributed in building mosques, nor in building schools, nor in building roads and so on.” End translation. [http://www.binbaz.org.sa/mat/1540]
Translated by
AbdulFattaah Bin Uthman
Abu Fajr
