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Is it permissible to count the amount paid for the university education of an orphaned student as part of zakat?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A university student is usually an adult, and adulthood ends the status of an orphan. An orphan is not given from Zakat unless he is poor, unable to earn a living, or cannot find work. If he can find work but is prevented from it by study, then his situation is considered: if what he is studying is an individual obligation (fard ayn) (like prayer and fasting) or a communal obligation (fard kifaya) that the community needs (like medicine), then it is permissible to give him from Zakat; otherwise, it is not.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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