1092 - Issue: He said: (And the debtors [al-gharimin]).

These are the debtors who are unable to fulfill their debts. This is the sixth category of Zakat expenditure recipients. There is no disagreement regarding their entitlement, the establishment of their share, and that debtors who are unable to fulfill their debts are among them. However, if one incurred debt through disobedience—such as purchasing wine, or spending it on adultery, gambling, singing, or the like—nothing shall be given to him before repentance, because it is an assistance in disobedience. If he repents, the Qadi said: It shall be given to him. Ibn Aqil chose this, because settling a debt that is a liability is not an act of disobedience; rather, it is mandatory to clear it, and assisting in a mandatory act is an act of piety, not disobedience. It is therefore similar to someone who squandered his wealth on acts of disobedience until he became poor, for he is given from the share of the poor. There is another scholarly view that nothing shall be given to him because he incurred the debt for an act of disobedience, so he is not given anything, just as if he had not repented; and because it is not safe that he might return to incurring debt for acts of disobedience, confident that his debt will be paid off, unlike the one who squandered his wealth on acts of disobedience, for he is given due to his poverty, not due to his disobedience.

Section: It shall not be given to an unbelieving debtor; because he is not among the people of Zakat, and for that reason, it is not given to their poor or their mukatab slaves. If he is among the relatives, our companions said: It is permissible to give it to him; because the cause for preventing him from taking from it for his poverty is to protect him from consuming it, as it is considered the "dregs of people's wealth." If he takes it for his debt and spends it on creditors, he does not incur the disgrace of its dregs. It is possible that it is not permitted, due to the generality of the texts prohibiting them from taking it, and that it is not lawful for them, and because the disgrace of taking it occurs whether he consumes it or does not consume it. It shall not be given from it to a debtor who possesses that with which he may pay off his debt; because the payment to him is due to his need, and he is self-sufficient without it.