Short answer
No, not in the Hanafi fatwa position: Imam Abu Hanifa held that spouses may not give zakat to each other. His two students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad, and the Shafi'i school allow a wife to give her zakat to a poor husband. A husband may never give zakat to his own wife.
Zakat paid by a wife to her husband is not valid according to Imam Abu Hanifa, which is the relied-upon position, because spouses share in each other's benefit. Voluntary sadaqah between spouses is allowed and rewarded.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- A wife may give her zakat to her husband if he is eligible, based on the hadith of Zaynab, the wife of Ibn Mas'ud.
Explanation
Husband and wife share a home, food and much of their daily life, so money given from one to the other comes back to the giver in some way. For that reason Imam Abu Hanifa held that neither spouse may give zakat to the other, and this is the fatwa position of the school. Zakat has to leave the giver completely and become the recipient's own.
A husband giving zakat to his wife is not valid in any school, since supporting her is already his duty.
The other view rests on the hadith of Zaynab, the wife of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. She asked whether it would count if she spent her charity on her husband and the orphans in her care, and the Prophet ﷺ said she would have two rewards, for kinship and for charity. Abu Yusuf, Muhammad and the Shafi'i school took this to include zakat. Imam Abu Hanifa understood it as voluntary charity. It came after a general call to women to give charity, even from their jewellery, and it covered her spending on her children, to whom zakat cannot be given in any case.
So in practice, a Hanafi wife with a husband in need should help him from her money as a gift or as sadaqah, which is rewarded twice, and give her zakat to other eligible people, perhaps his needy siblings. See giving zakat to family.
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 goes to set categories of people, and the schools differ over whether a spouse can be one of them.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1466
Sahih... نعم لها أجران أجر القرابة وأجر الصدقة ...
"Yes, she has two rewards: the reward of kinship and the reward of charity."
The hadith of Zaynab, which the Hanafis read as voluntary charity and the Shafi'is as including zakat.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1462
Sahih... زوجك وولدك أحق من تصدقت به عليهم ...
"Your husband and your child are the most deserving of those you give charity to."
Said to the wife of Ibn Mas'ud about her charity; it includes her child, who cannot receive zakat, which supports reading it as voluntary charity.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on those to whom zakat may and may not be paid. Abu Hanifa's view that a wife may not pay zakat to her husband, and the view of his two students.
- Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the recipients of zakat. Confirms Abu Hanifa's position as the relied-upon one.
- al-Majmu', Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the recipients. The Shafi'i view that a wife may give zakat to her husband.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. 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.