Gharim
*Gharim* is a person weighed down by a debt they cannot repay.
What it means for me: Gharim names one of the eight categories eligible for Zakat. Jurists separate two kinds of debtor. One borrowed for personal need, such as food, medicine, or shelter. The other took on a debt to reconcile two feuding parties, and may qualify even while otherwise well off.
Example: A shopkeeper's debts exceed what he can pay after his business fails. Zakat collected from others may go toward what he genuinely owes.
Do not confuse with: The poor, *faqir*, and the needy, *miskin*, two other zakat categories with different tests. A gharim's problem is a specific debt, not overall poverty. Some note a gharim may not be poor at all. Nor is every debtor a gharim in the zakat sense. A person with the means to repay does not qualify.
If scholars differ: Scholars differ on the gharim who borrowed to reconcile two parties. Some hold this person may be given zakat even while wealthy. Others require some degree of need before any category qualifies.
See the term in context
Is it permissible to pay off the accumulated debts of an endowment (waqf) from zakat funds, considering the endowment as being in debt (gharim), knowing that the endowment is a non-profit entity and its administrators are working for the sake of Allah?
It is impermissible to use zakat to pay off the debt of a charitable organization or an endowment (waqf), because zakat is given to a specific recipient and is intended for their ownership. It is not permissible to use…
Is it permissible to take money from the indebted person (gharim) – who had received it from zakat funds to pay off his debt – after his circumstances have improved, or must it be refused and he be informed that it was his, or should it be spent on other zakat beneficiaries?
The Zakat has been disbursed appropriately, and the givers of Zakat have been absolved of their obligation. This individual is not required to repay you the debt he owed, as his obligation has been fulfilled through the…
Is a guarantor who betrayed the debtor, leading to the loss of funds, considered a “gharim” (one in debt) and eligible for zakat?
The hand of a worker in Mudarabah (profit-sharing partnership) is a hand of trust (yad amanah). Therefore, he does not guarantee the capital unless there is an act of transgression (ta'addi) or negligence (taqseer).…
Questions that use it
Is it permissible to divide a sum of money paid by a rich person between two men, one of whom is in debt (gharim) and the other has a sick daughter, knowing that the rich person paid the money out of sympathy for the sick girl's condition?
Is it obligatory to re-pay the Zakat that was given to the husband to settle his debt, knowing that he was not an indebted person (gharim) in hardship, and that the Zakat payer was unaware of the ruling at the time?
Is it permissible to give zakat to a debtor threatened with imprisonment, knowing that its time has not yet come, and is he considered among those in debt (al-gharimin)? What about his debts that have not yet been collected?