Title: Is my friend eligible for zakat?

Question: I have a very important question with reference to zakah. Please can you enlighten me on this matter. Arif borrowed money from Tahir in 2006. Tahir withdrew money from several credit cards to help Arif. Arif promised to repay Tahir within 6 weeks. Up to now, nothing has been paid towards the debt and interest charges are rising by the day. Arif owes money to several people but he cannot pay anyone back as he only earns sufficient amount of money to run his house. Some of the debtors are paying his debt through credit cards with high interest charges and the debtors are struggling to keep up with the payments. Arif's debt is over 100 thousand UK Pounds and is rising by the day due to interest charges. Arif has no savings and he has a house which has an 80% mortgage outstanding. Is Arif eligible for zakah? Can zakah money be used to pay his debtors?

Answer ID: 58344Posted on: Aug 30, 2020

Bismillah hir-Rahman nir-Rahim !

I have a very important question with reference to zakah. Please can you enlighten me on this matter. Arif borrowed money from Tahir in 2006. Tahir withdrew money from several credit cards to help Arif. Arif promised to repay Tahir within 6 weeks. Up to now, nothing has been paid towards the debt and interest charges are rising by the day. Arif owes money to several people but he cannot pay anyone back as he only earns sufficient amount of money to run his house. Some of the debtors are paying his debt through credit cards with high interest charges and the debtors are struggling to keep up with the payments. Arif's debt is over 100 thousand UK Pounds and is rising by the day due to interest charges. Arif has no savings and he has a house which has an 80% mortgage outstanding. Is Arif eligible for zakah? Can zakah money be used to pay his debtors?