Short answer
Yes, for a patient who is eligible for zakat. You can give the money to the patient, or pay the hospital, pharmacy or doctor on their behalf with their permission. Zakat cannot be given to a hospital or medical charity for its general work, buildings or equipment.
Zakat spent on an eligible patient's treatment is valid when it becomes the patient's property or is paid at his request to settle his bill. A patient who owns the nisab is not eligible, unless debts that are due, such as hospital bills, bring his wealth below it.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Illness is one of the most common reasons people fall into need, and zakat is meant for people in need. What matters is that the patient is eligible and that the zakat becomes theirs.
Zakat can pay for:
- A poor patient's hospital or surgery bill, paid directly at the patient's request.
- Medicines, glasses, hearing aids or a wheelchair handed to the patient.
- Travel to treatment, and the family's living costs while the earner is ill.
- Medical debts the patient cannot pay, under the share for debtors.
Zakat cannot pay for:
- Building, equipping or running a hospital or clinic.
- Doctors' and nurses' salaries.
- Free treatment at a charity clinic, since a service is not property the patient owns. Medicines handed to the patient are different.
Eligibility deserves care. Someone with savings above the nisab is not eligible. But in countries where medical bills are large, a person can owe more than they hold. In the Hanafi school, debts that are due are subtracted first, and if what remains is below the nisab, the patient may receive zakat (see debts and zakat).
The four schools agree on this outline. For a non-Muslim patient, help from your sadaqah. See what zakat can be used for and the who can receive zakat checker.
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.
Patients who are poor or in debt are among the recipients.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1395
Sahih... تؤخذ من أغنيائهم وترد على فقرائهم ...
"It is taken from their rich and given back to their poor."
Zakat reaches people in need, including the sick.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the recipients (bab al-masrif). Paying a poor person's debt at his request counts as zakat; tamlik is a condition.
- Bada'i al-Sana'i, Kitab al-Zakat, on the pillar of zakat (tamlik). Giving the use of something, rather than ownership, is not zakat.
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.