Who Can Receive Sadaqah? Rulings

Voluntary Sadaqah may be given to anyone whose need is known or who will benefit from it: relatives and strangers, Muslims and non-Muslims who are not at war with Muslims, and even the well-off, and the giver is rewarded, as long as it does not help the receiver commit a sin. The most deserving are your relatives in need: start with the closest, while giving weight to whoever needs it most, because charity to them is both Sadaqah and keeping family ties (Islamweb). Zakat, on the other hand, has set recipients and may not go to anyone else.

Voluntary Sadaqah is wider than Zakat and can go to every good cause.
Sadaqah to relatives in need is better than Sadaqah to others.
Voluntary Sadaqah to your parents, spouse and children is allowed, but Zakat is not given to those you are obliged to support.
Sadaqah to the well-off and to non-Muslims is allowed, and Muslims in need come first.
Sadaqah is not given to someone you know will use it for a sin.

How do Zakat recipients differ from Sadaqah recipients?

Obligatory Zakat has eight categories of recipients set by Allah in Surah At-Tawbah (verse 60), and it may not be spent outside them. Zakat is not given to non-Muslims, to relatives you are obliged to support, to the well-off, or to someone strong and able to earn.

Voluntary Sadaqah is wider: it can go to every good cause, such as feeding people, building mosques and digging wells, and it may be given to people who cannot receive Zakat.

Who deserves your Sadaqah most?

Your relatives come first: start with the closest, while giving weight to whoever needs it most. Allah says: “They ask you, [O Muḥammad], what they should spend. Say, “Whatever you spend of good is [to be] for parents and relatives and orphans and the needy and the traveler.”” [Al-Baqarah 2:215].

In his book Ihya Ulum ad-Din, Al-Ghazali listed six qualities that make the reward of Sadaqah greater when they are found in the person who receives it:

The God-fearing: because Sadaqah helps them in their worship.
The student of knowledge: because it frees them to learn.
The sincere believer: who sees every blessing as coming from Allah alone and praises Him for it.
The one who hides their need: who does not complain or ask people.
The one unable to earn: because of a family to support, illness or hardship.
The relative: because Sadaqah to them is both charity and keeping family ties.

Can I give Sadaqah to my parents, spouse and children?

Yes. Voluntary Sadaqah to your parents, wife and children is allowed, and giving it to them is better; it carries the reward of kindness and family ties as well as the reward of Sadaqah. It does not, however, replace the support you are obliged to give them. Obligatory Zakat is not given to your parents or children while you are obliged to support them.

When Zainab, the wife of Ibn Mas’ud, wanted to give her jewellery in charity, the Prophet (ﷺ) told her: “Your husband and your children had more right to it than anybody else” (Sahih al-Bukhari). When she asked about spending on her husband and the orphans in her care, he said she would have two rewards: one for her family ties and one for her charity (Sahih al-Bukhari). So a woman who spends on her husband and children intending Sadaqah combines charity with family ties, while the household’s support is, in principle, the husband’s duty alone.

Can Sadaqah be given to someone well-off?

Yes. Voluntary Sadaqah is permissible for the well-off, and the giver is rewarded, as when someone feeds the worshippers in a mosque, including those who are comfortable. Those in need deserve it more, and the well-off are encouraged not to take it or seek it. Zakat, by contrast, is never given to the well-off.

Can Sadaqah be given to a non-Muslim?

Yes. Voluntary Sadaqah may be given to a non-Muslim who is not at war with Muslims, as long as it is not used for something forbidden. Allah praises those who “give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive” [Al-Insan 76:8]; the Prophet (ﷺ) said there is a reward for kindness to every living being (agreed upon); and he allowed Asma bint Abi Bakr to keep ties with her mother, who was not a Muslim. Zakat, however, is not given to non-Muslims.

Can Sadaqah be given to someone who commits sins?

If you know they will use the Sadaqah to commit a sin, you must not give it to them, because that would be helping in wrongdoing. If you do not know that and they are in need, there is no harm in feeding them and meeting their need, though it is better to give your Sadaqah to righteous people.

Is it better to give Sadaqah in secret?

As a rule, hiding voluntary Sadaqah is better, because it is closer to sincerity. Among the seven whom Allah will shade on the Day of Judgement is “a person who practices charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given” (Sahih al-Bukhari). Giving openly is better when it brings a clear benefit, such as encouraging others to give.

How do you get your Sadaqah to those who deserve it?

If you have a relative in need, start with them. If you want your Sadaqah to reach affected families, orphans and the sick in Qatar and abroad, you can give it through the Qatar Charity donation page. To read more, see Sadaqah in Islam: Its Virtues in This Life and the Hereafter and Nazr (Vow) in Islam: Ruling, Types and Expiation.

Sadaqah recipients in five questions