Paying off a father’s debt from zakaah

Question

Praise be to Allah.

If the father took on this debt in order to spend on himself,
it is not permissible for his son to give his zakaah to his father to pay
off his debt, because the son is obliged to spend on his father.

But if this debt was for
something else other than spending on himself, then there is nothing wrong
with the son paying it off with zakaah, because he is not obliged to pay off
his father’s debt, so he is not avoiding an obligatory duty by doing so.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz said:

Paying zakaah to relatives who are entitled to it is better
than giving it to those who are not your relatives, because charity given to
relatives is both charity and upholding the ties of kinship, unless these
relatives are those on whom you are obliged to spend, in which case giving
zakaah to them in order to free yourself from the obligation to spend on
them is not permissible. If it so happens that these brothers and sisters
whom you have mentioned are poor, and you cannot afford to spend on them,
then there is nothing wrong with you giving them your zakaah. Similarly, if
these brothers and sisters owe debts to people and you pay off their debts
with your zakaah, there is nothing wrong with you doing that. That is
because a person is not obliged to pay off the debts of his relative, so if
he pays them off with his zakaah, that is something for which he will be
rewarded. Even if it is your son or father who owes a debt to someone and
cannot pay it off, it is permissible for you to pay off your father’s debt
from your zakaah, i.e., it is permissible for you to pay off your father’s
debt from your zakaah and it is permissible to pay off the debt of your son
from your zakaah, so long as the reason for this debt is not to obtain money
for maintenance that it is your duty to pay. If the reason for it is to
obtain maintenance which it is your duty to pay, then it is not permissible
for you to pay off the debt from your zakaah, lest you use that as a trick
to get out of spending on those on whom you are obliged to spend so that
they can take on debts and you can pay them off with your zakaah. End
quote.

Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz,
14/310

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

If you are obliged to
spend on someone, it is not permissible for you to give zakaah to him as
maintenance, but if it is to pay off his debt, there is nothing wrong with
that. If we assume that a father owes a debt, and his son wants to pay off
his debt from his zakaah, and (the father) is unable to pay it off, there is
nothing wrong with that. The same applies to a mother or a son. But if you
are giving zakaah for the purpose of maintenance, that is not permissible,
because by doing this you are saving your money, but it is obligatory to
spend on one’s parents, mother and father, and on sons and daughters, and on
everyone from whom you would inherit if he died, i.e., everyone from whom
you would inherit if he died, you are obliged to spend on, because Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And on the (father’s) heir is
incumbent the like of that (which was incumbent on the father)”

[al-Baqarah 2:233]

Allaah has enjoined upon
the heir the payment for breastfeeding, because breastfeeding is like
spending. End quote.

Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen,
18/416.