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Brother Wakass emails from New York and he says whether Zakat can be given to build a masjid in Western lands

in the name of Allah.

So I just went over in the previous question the eight categories of Zakat and I mentioned one of them being

Wa fi Sabili Allah and in the way of Allah. Okay now what does in the way of Allah mean?

The majority of our ulama past and present have said that this is restricted to a

legitimate you know defense of the Muslim lands that involves military expenses.

So Wa fi Sabili Allah is the military branch of an actual Islamic land in which the land must be

defended in which the land must be defended against any attacks and threats and so how are you

going to finance this in the pre-modern times? So a portion of Zakat one of the eight categories was

considered to be Wa fi Sabili Allah and this is the predominant position past and present.

However since the beginning of time there has been another interpretation that why no doubt the

military branch of an Islamic land definitely deserves to be financed. However the Quran doesn't say

the military branch the Quran says Wa fi Sabili Allah and so the position of quite a few ulama and in

fact in his famous Tefseer Al-Kabir he mentions this that

this is not something that is new.

He says that the wording of the Quran Wa fi Sabili Allah is open enough to allow for more than

just military expenditure and that is why al-Kafal another great scholar that is a century earlier

than him al-Kafal mentioned from a number of scholars that you may give Zakat in all areas that

is good such as and that he has a such as list for example he says that the Tefseer Al-Mota so

spending on the funerals of people that cannot afford to pay their funerals or to make the

masjid running so you're spending the money on the masjid. Why? Because Wa fi Sabili Allah

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