Zakaat

Q: My Brother in Law (husband of My sister) has Died. My Sister has 3 Children. As a brother I am helping my sister more and more in financial matters. Also she is receiving some money from the company where my brother in law had worked. But some times this money is not enough. I tried to give my Zakat to my sister but she refused to accept it and said I will never accept zakat or Sadqa. In this situation can I give zakat to my sister without telling her or if she asked can I hide or tell a lie that I am giving her zakat.

Q: I want to know how do I work out the zakaat nisaab?

Q: I am thinking of donating my hair to a cause so that they can make wigs for cancer patients. Is this permissible in Islam?

Q: I am living with my children in my parents house in Pakistan and my husband is away in another country. The maid in my parents house helps me with house hold work. I give her some money every month which is from my zakat. I told her about that and she is happy to accept the zakaat money and help me with house hold work. My mother pays her regular salary on top of that. My question is will that money be accepted as zakaat?

Q: When giving used furniture or a used car as zakat, what value must be calculated for these items?

Q: I received a gift which I havent used since, meaning it is brand new. I wish to give it in kind as my zakaat. The original price of the item was R300. Do I consider it as R300 whilst distributing it as zakaat? Or does the value drop? I received it almost a year ago.

Q: Regarding Zakat Al-maal, what is the ruling on one who pays this late, like a day after his anniversary? Is there any sin on him? Because he was trying to find a suitable charity that he trusts, for the imam he was used to giving his zakat Al-Maal to was somewhat dubious in the end. This caused him to be late in paying his Zakat, while he was trying to find a suitable cause. So what is the ruling on this, and on the one who pays this late out of
laziness? What happens to his reward in both cases?

Q: Is it permissible to use zakat to purchase appliances (kettle or iron) for a needy person? The person has asked for the appliances, not cash.

Q: I am currently doing volunteer work at a Muslim children’s orphanage near my area. I have found that many of the children leaving the orphanage after grade 12 are having  difficulties finding funds for studies and accommodation. These youths are either placed at a Muslim youth home/ to live with a family willing to provide accommodation for them/ with their own family if possible and for some (as no placement are found) may go into a non-Islamic home (which is very problematic!). Some of these children are provided with some funds from the orphanage but this is reported to also be problematic as fees are not paid on time, they struggle to get finances for accommodation, stationary etc. My aim is to open a zakaat fund and use the money to pay fees for stationary/ varsity fees/ transport  as these youths (who I am very close to even after they leave the orphanage) are struggling to get these funds from the organisation as the organisation is only able to support children till matric. Thus my aim is to open a fund to pay for these youths. Can I go ahead and do this? Are these youths zakaatable? Will I be able to open a zakaat fund collecting my own zakaat and of family members that are willing to assist with their zakaat and pay for studies/ accommodation/ stationary/ transports for these Muslim youths? I will use the zakaat for each of the grade 12’s leaving the orphanage to secure their studies etc? Please advise? Alternatively please provide me with guidance on what can be done?

Q: Recently a brother was discussing the issue of 'Having a permanent organisation to distribute sadaqa and zakaat'. He termed this Haraam, Batil and
bidah. He produced the following articles with a link which I've produced at the bottom. I would be grateful if you can elaborate on this issue in light
of the Qu'ran and Hadith.