Zakaat

Q: Can an old man and woman receive Zakaat if their children who are well to do don’t want to give them?

Q: My younger brother is jobless and has a wife and baby. I gave him money from my Zakaat so he can go to the Middle East to find work. It's been few months and he is still looking for a job and meeting his needs there by using zakaat money which I gave him. His wife is in her home country and needs some kind of financial support to meet her and the baby's needs. His wife has jewellery which is worth more than US$5,000. My question is that since my brother has no income to support her and his wife is a house wife, can I give Zakaat money to his wife so she can fulfill her needs along with baby's?

Q: My sister's husband's income is not good. In a month sometimes it happens that they are hungry the whole day. On the other hand she has fridge, TV etc. Can I give her zakat money.

Q: My youger brother who is jobless and they have newborn baby. Currently, he has no income. Can we give him bulk of zakaat so he can fulfill the needs of his wife and baby? Few months ago we gave him zakaat for the amount equivalent to US$1000 which he deposited in his bank account. Can we give me more money from zakaat so he can manage the needs of his wife and baby?

Q: If someone borrowed some money from me, do I have to give Zakaat on the money lent to someone?

Q: My friend is non-syed, hes husband is syed, they are poor and needy. Her son recently diagnose with brain cancer tumor. Doctors advice them to do surgury as soon as possible other wise the child will be dead in a month. The total expense is 5 lack of the operation. My friend didnt even have 5 thousand in her pocket nor hes husband have. Question is can she apply for zakat for her childs life?

Q: My father saves enough money and my mother has jewellery. I know the nisaab for savings, gold and silver. As per the criteria, Zakat is wajib on my parents. Till now, in their entire life they didn't pay zakat. They did toubah (repented) for not paying it. Now how do they pay zakah for all the previous years because they don't know when they became sahib-e-nisaab.

Also determining the savings of my father for all the previous years is quit complicated. How much should they start giving from this year?

Q: I am a fairly wealthy person and don't give much to my siblings' children because they are in my will. However I give lots of charity/sadaqah to other organizations. Is my sadaqah or charity valid if my sibling divorced his wife and left her and his kids, an​d they are not well off and struggle every other day?

Q: Should one pay zakaat on the money given as a deposit for purchasing a house?

Q: My aunt was widowed when my cousins were very young. We were told that they can accept zakaat. Years later I realised that my aunt did not have cash but did have all her gold jewellery. The house my uncle had was sold and the money invested to pay their rent. My aunty worked and earned and my grandparents and family helped where they could.

Is our zakaat that we had given discharged, as it seems that the daughters did have gold, saved money and are entitled to about R67 000 each. As family we were told that they had nothing.

If the zakaat is not discharged how would one go about discharging it?