Fiqh-us-Sunnah - 3.79

Hadith 3.79.1

Preference in Giving Zakah to Husband or Relatives

A poor husband is entitled to receive zakah from his well-to-do wife, even though she is not supposed to support him. Her reward for giving it to him is more than if she were to give it to strangers. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported that Zainab, the wife of Ibn Mas'ud, said: "O Prophet of Allah! Indeed you have ordered us today to give away sadaqah, and I have some jewelry which I wanted to give away as sadaqah. But Ibn Mas'ud claims that he and his children deserve it more than someone else." The Prophet, upon whom be peace, responded: "Ibn Mas'ud is right. Your husband and your children are more deserving." This is related by al-Bukhari. AshShafi, Ibn al-Mundhir, Abu Yusuf, Muhammad, the Zahiriyyah, and one of the reports by Ahmad hold the same view. Abu Hanifah and other scholars differ, saying that the wife is not allowed to give any sadaqah to her husband. They maintain that Zainab's hadith is concerned with voluntary sadaqah and not with the obligatory one. Malik holds that it is not permissible for a husband to spend the sadaqah he receives from his wife on her. Spending it on others is all right. Most scholars say that one's brothers, sisters, paternal uncles and aunts, and maternal uncles and aunts may receive zakah if they are eligible. Their opinion is based on the hadith which says: "Sadaqah for the poor is rewarded as one sadaqah, but in the case of a relative it is considered as two: [one reward for] blood tie and [the other reward for] the sadaqah [itself]."
This is related by Ahmad, an-Nasa'i, and at-Tirmidhi. The latter grades it hassan.