Q. Is it appropriate to pay zakah to one’s parents, sisters, brothers, other relatives, or to one’s wife’s parents?
Z.A.M.J.
A. If one has poor relatives who qualify as beneficiaries of zakah, one should pay his zakah to them. He does not have to tell them that what he is giving them comes from zakah, because some people are too sensitive on this issue. However, one must not pay his zakah to a relative whom he is duty-bound to support under Islamic law. Such relatives include one’s children, parents, grandchildren and grandparents, as well as one’s wife.
To these one must not pay zakah, because if he does that, he would be the actual beneficiary. Needless to say, no one can pay his zakah to himself.
It is perfectly permissible, indeed better, to pay one’s zakah to one’s poor brothers and sisters, because he is not duty-bound to look after them. As for one’s parents in law, these may be supported with one’s zakah as they are more distant relatives than his brothers and sisters.