Abstract:
Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam, it is considered as Islamic
financial system. The paper aims at discussing the opinions of Muslim
scholars regarding the permissibility of granting a soft loan from the
Zakat sources; by spending their resources in ways that are not specified
by the Qur’an, and the Sunnah. The research methodology applied in
this paper is analytical and inductive methods which are adopted to
study the view of classical and contemporary scholars, and to analyzing
the views of advanced and contemporary jurists. Muslim scholars have
different opinions regarding the permissibility of granting a soft loan
from the Zakat sources based to various doctrines as follows: the first
opinion States that it is permissible to grant soft loan using zakat
revenues; this opinion was supported by Al-Maududi, Abdulrahman
khalaf and Abu-Zuhra among others. The Second opinion says that it is
forbidden to grant soft loan using zakat revenues; this was seconded by
Rafiq Yunuss, Jadal Al-hāqī and others. The Third opinion states that it
is permissible to grant soft loan using zakat revenues with specific
conditions. The proponents of this were Abu satar, Muḥāmād Azukheil
and among others. The study concludes with major results as follows: It
is not permissible to use zakat revenues without specific aims set up for
it; because it is violation of the Quranic text and the intent of Islamic
Sharia of Zakat expenditures. The paper recommended to Zakat
institutions to establish a fund to povide Qard Hasan to non Zakat
recipients.
