Question:
Can I pay my Zakah to support Islamic education? And can I give this Zakah to a Waqf endowment, where its Return on Investment (ROI) will go to an Islamic education college? In other words, can the Zakah fund transform into a Waqf fund?
Answer:
Zakah is one of the five pillars of Islam and thus an important obligation on every Muslim who has wealth above the “poverty threshold” (Arabic: Nisaab, which is estimated today as growing wealth or savings that is roughly worth more than a couple thousand dollars or 85 grams of gold). Zakah is payable to a number of categories mentioned in the Quran, verse 9:60 (trans. Asad): “The offerings given for the sake of God are [meant] only for the poor and the needy, and those who are in charge thereof, and those whose hearts are to be won over, and for the freeing of human beings from bondage, and [for] those who are over burdened with debts, and [for every struggle] in God’s cause, and [for] the wayfarer: [this is] an ordinance from God – and God is allknowing, wise.”
Fatwa Awqaf
