Who are the recipients of Zakat?

Zakat is paid to deserving individuals who fall into one or more of the following eight categories:

• The poor
• The needy
• Those employed to administer Zakat
• Those whose hearts are to be reconciled
• Those in slavery
• Those in debt
• In the way of Allah
• The destitute traveller

This is determined by the following verse in the Quran:

Indeed, [prescribed] charitable offerings are only [to be given] to the poor and the indigent, and to those who work on [administering] it, and to those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to [free] those in bondage, and to the debt-ridden, and for the cause of God, and to the wayfarer. [This is] an obligation from God. And God is all-knowing, all-wise. – Al-Tawbah, 9:60