Can I give Zakah money to a hospital where patients are both Muslims and non Muslims?
Question
Can Zakah money be given to non-Muslim ? Also I want to give zakah to a hospital to treat poor and needy people, is it important for me to know if all the patients are Muslims?
Answer
It is only permissible to give non-Muslims from charity (sadaqa) out of good character for which a Muslim will be rewarded. However, sometimes, it becomes mandatory to give charity to non-Muslims since it is obligatory in Islamic law to fulfill the needs of the other if no means but him available to do so. As for zakat, it must be paid to Muslims only.
As for giving zakah money to a hospital, it is not important to know if all patients are Muslims. This is because benefiting from an entity after it is already established differs from dealing with its ownership in the first place. This is compared to a case of a poor Muslim who received zakah money to host a non-Muslim guest. Therefore, it is unanimously agreed to give zakah to hospitals in general.