Zakaat

Giving zakaat to one's brother who is jobless

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?

Assisting a woman who is married to a Sayyid with zakaat

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?

Giving zakaat for previous years

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?

Discharging zakaat to people who one thought were recipients of zakaat

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?