Short answer
Yes. Once an eligible person receives zakat, it is fully theirs, and they may spend it, save it, give it as a gift or give it in charity, even to someone who could not take zakat directly. But a deal arranged in advance, where a poor person is pressed to hand the money straight back or pass it on, defeats the purpose of zakat and should be avoided.
Zakat is completed by transfer of ownership (tamlik) to an eligible person. After that it is his property like any other, and anything he gives from it is his own gift or charity, not zakat. The transfer must be real, with the recipient free to keep it.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Zakat changes hands when an eligible person receives it. From then on it is simply their money. A poor family may use it for rent, save it, buy a gift for a relative, or give some of it in charity themselves. The four schools agree that a recipient owns what he receives.
The clearest example is Barira, a freed slave woman who was given meat as charity. When some of that meat was brought to the Prophet ﷺ, who did not eat charity, he said: it is charity for her, and for us it is a gift. The same food changed its ruling when it changed hands.
So a poor person may, from zakat they have received:
- Give a gift to a Sayyid, or to the person who gave them the zakat.
- Donate to a mosque or madrasa.
- Help a friend or relative who is not eligible for zakat.
What is wrong is using this as a trick. Some arrange to give zakat to a poor person on the understanding that he will pass it straight to a mosque or back to the giver. Hanafi scholars allow this route only as a last resort in genuine need, and only when the poor person truly owns the money and is free to keep it. Pressuring him, or giving him zakat he never really controls, can make the zakat invalid and wrongs the poor. If a mosque or project needs money, raise sadaqah and lillah for it; see can zakat be given to a mosque.
The evidence
Quran, Surah At-Tawba 9:60
۞ إِنَّمَا ٱلصَّدَقَٰتُ لِلْفُقَرَآءِ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينِ وَٱلْعَٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَٱلْغَٰرِمِينَ وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌۭ ﴿٦٠﴾
Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakah] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the [stranded] traveler - an obligation [imposed] by Allah. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.
Zakat is meant to reach the poor as their own.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1493
Sahih... هو لها صدقة ولنا هدية ...
"It is charity for her, and for us it is a gift."
Once charity is owned by the recipient, what she gives from it is her own gift.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the recipients, on transfer of ownership and the stratagem (hilah) of tamlik. Zakat requires real transfer of ownership; the hilah for funding a mosque is valid only when the poor person truly owns the money.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on those to whom zakat may and may not be paid. Zakat is not valid without transfer of ownership to an eligible person.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.