1. A free man or woman.
2. Muslim: Zakat is a religious obligation upon Muslims, like the five daily prayers.
3. Sane: The person on whom zakat becomes obligatory must be of sound mind according to Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Malik holds that an insane person is still liable for zakat.
4. An adult: Children do not have to pay zakat, even if they own enough wealth to make zakat obligatory.
5. In complete ownership and control of their wealth: The person must own and be in possession of the wealth, and also be free to spend or dispose of the wealth in any manner they like. If a person has made a loan of their wealth and are confident that it will be paid back, then they still have to pay zakat on that.
6. In possession of wealth that meets the nisab threshold: The person should possess wealth above a defined amount required to satisfy the essential needs of themselves and their dependents (nisab).
7. Free from debt: Someone in debt may deduct their debts from their assets. If what remains is still above the nisab threshold, zakat is due, otherwise not.
8. In possession of the wealth for one complete lunar (Hijrah) year: If one owns zakatable wealth for a lunar year, zakat will become obligatory, provided the total amount of wealth meets the nisab at the beginning of the year and the end, irrespective of any fluctuations in the months between.

To be eligible to receive zakat, the recipient must be a poor Muslim. A poor person is someone whose zakatable assets in excess of his basic requirements does not reach the value of the nisab threshold.

The recipient must not belong to your immediate family: your spouse, children, parents and grandparents cannot receive your zakat. Other relatives however, can receive your zakat.

The Zakat giver is freed from its obligation as soon as he grants full ownership and possession of it to any of the above mentioned categories. This can be done either by giving a certain amount of money, food, water and or accommodation in desperate circumstances to meet his basic requirements or by giving him a means of production or tools of trade to help him in becoming selfempowered.

We use the Hanafi fiqh criteria in managing and distributing zakat.

You must pay zakat with the intention of paying it. Therefore, it is important that you make an intention to give a donation as a zakat payment.