What Counts as "In the Cause of God"?

Of the eight Zakat categories, none generates more disagreement than Category 7: Fī Sabīlillāh — "in the cause of God."

The classical majority restricts it to armed defense of the Muslim community. The broadest modern interpretations extend it to virtually any public benefit cause. Most organizations fall somewhere in between. Where they land on this spectrum tells you more about their scholarly orientation than almost any other single data point.

The Five Positions

Think of Fī Sabīlillāh interpretations as a spectrum from narrowest to broadest:

Position 1: Military Jihad Only

The classical majority position. Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 923 CE), Ibn Kathir (d. 1373 CE), Imam Malik (d. 795 CE), and al-Baji (d. 1081 CE) all restrict Fī Sabīlillāh to those physically engaged in defending the Muslim community. An organization at this position wouldn't invoke Category 7 at all. There's nothing to fund.

This is historically the dominant view, but it's rarely held by contemporary organizations in the West.

Position 2: Da'wah and Intellectual Outreach

Qaradawi · Sabiq. Yusuf al-Qaradawi (d. 2022) and Sayyid Sabiq (d. 2000) extend jihad to "intellectual and cultural defense of Islam" but explicitly reject the "all good deeds" reading. This opens the door to:

• Da'wah and Islamic outreach — funding efforts to share Islam with others

This is a moderately narrow position. It broadens the category beyond the battlefield but keeps it focused on efforts that have a clear "striving" dimension.

Position 3: Islamic Education

AMJA · al-Uthaymeen · Ibn Taymiyyah. The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA, via Dr. Hatem al-Haj), Sheikh al-Uthaymeen (d. 2001), and Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328) include:

• Islamic education programs — training scholars, publishing Islamic literature
• Scholarships and student support — supporting students of Islamic knowledge with books, housing, and tuition
• Hajj for the poor — supporting those who have not yet performed the obligatory pilgrimage (following Imam Ahmad's position)

This position treats the cultivation of Islamic knowledge, and the fulfillment of core religious obligations for those who can't afford them, as a form of striving in God's path.

Position 4: Institutional Support

AMJA · Qaradawi · Shaltut. Mahmud Shaltut (d. 1963), Qaradawi, and AMJA extend Fī Sabīlillāh to the institutions that support Islamic work:

• Schools and madrasas — institutional infrastructure for Islamic education
• Staff salaries — funding employees whose work sustains Islamic institutions
• Legal defense and civil rights — protecting the Muslim community in courts and policy arenas (emerging interpretation, by analogy)
• Policy research and public education — extending Qaradawi's "intellectual jihad" to contemporary policy work (emerging interpretation)

The legal defense and policy research extensions are newer. No classical text names them explicitly. They're derived by analogy from Qaradawi's framework and AMJA's extension to institutional support in minority contexts. As Wahb (2023) documents, this progressive broadening of fī sabīl Allāh has allowed institutions in North America to channel Zakat toward an increasingly wide range of activities under a category whose classical core is military defense.

Position 5: All Public Benefit

Al-Qaffal · Rashid Ridha · al-Kasani. The broadest reading treats Fī Sabīlillāh as encompassing all causes that serve the public good:

• Mosques — construction and maintenance
• Hospitals and clinics — medical infrastructure
• Shelters — housing the homeless
• Wells and water projects — infrastructure for communities in need
• General community welfare — any cause that benefits the Muslim community or public at large

This is a minority position. The jumhur (majority of classical scholars) rejects it. Qaradawi explicitly disagrees with it. But it's held by al-Qaffal al-Shashi (d. 976 CE, cited by al-Razi in Mafatih al-Ghayb), Rashid Ridha (d. 1935), and al-Kasani (d. 1191, who defines fī sabīlillāh as "all acts of piety").

How to Read the Scope Badges

When you're looking at an organization's profile in the ZakatView Directory, you'll see a breakdown of exactly what it funds under Fī Sabīlillāh. Each sub-option is tagged with a scope badge, an indigo label that tells you what kind of spending it is and how widely accepted the interpretation is:

• Narrow — Da'wah, Islamic education, scholarships, Hajj for the poor, and institutional support (schools, madrasas, staff salaries). These are uses that named scholars and recognized scholarly bodies explicitly endorse — Qaradawi, AMJA, al-Uthaymeen, Ibn Taymiyyah, and others. They expand beyond military jihad but remain within what most contemporary scholars accept.

• Broad — Legal defense, civil rights, and policy research. No classical text names these uses explicitly. They're derived by analogy — for example, extending Qaradawi's concept of "intellectual jihad" to legal advocacy or policy work. A reasonable extension, but still an extension.

• Broadest — Mosques, hospitals, shelters, wells, and general community welfare. Only a minority of scholars hold this view — al-Qaffal, Rashid Ridha, and al-Kasani among them. The majority (jumhur) disagrees, and Qaradawi explicitly rejects it. These scholars would say such causes should be funded from voluntary charity (sadaqah), not Zakat.

An organization that funds "da'wah and Islamic outreach" (Narrow scope) is operating on much firmer scholarly ground than one funding "general community welfare" (Broadest scope). Neither is necessarily wrong, but the strength of the scholarly basis is different.

Why This Matters

Fī Sabīlillāh is the category where Zakat money is most likely to shift from direct assistance to individuals toward institutional or communal spending. An organization with a broad interpretation might use your Zakat to build a mosque or fund a community center. A narrow interpretation keeps Zakat focused on putting money or goods directly into the hands of eligible individuals.

Neither approach is inherently better. But you deserve to know which one you're funding, and whether the scholarly basis behind it is strong, emerging, or contested.

Sources

• Quran 9:60 — the verse establishing the eight Zakat categories, including Fī Sabīlillāh
• Al-Ṭabarī (d. 310 AH / 923 CE). Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Ta'wīl Āy al-Qur'ān, Vol. 11 — tafsīr of Q 9:60, restricts fī sabīlillāh to military
• Al-Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 606 AH / 1210 CE). Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb — citing al-Qaffāl al-Shāshī's (d. 365 AH / 976 CE) broad "all public benefit" interpretation
• Al-Kāsānī (d. 587 AH / 1191 CE). Badā'iʿ al-Ṣanā'iʿ fī Tartīb al-Sharā'iʿ, Vol. 2, p. 45 — defines fī sabīlillāh as جميع القربات ("all acts of piety")
• Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE). Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, Vol. 25 — extends to Ḥajj for the poor and students of knowledge
• Al-ʿUthaymīn (d. 1421 AH / 2001 CE). Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa Rasā'il, Vol. 18 (Kitāb al-Zakāh) — supports education and scholarship funding
• Qaradāwī, Yūsuf (d. 1444 AH / 2022 CE). Fiqh al-Zakāh, Vol. II, Ch. 6 — extends jihad to intellectual and cultural defense; rejects the "all good deeds" reading
• Rashīd Riḍā (d. 1354 AH / 1935 CE). Tafsīr al-Manār — supports the broadest reading of Fī Sabīlillāh
• Sābiq, Sayyid (d. 1420 AH / 2000 CE). Fiqh al-Sunnah — extends to da'wah and intellectual outreach
• AMJA (Dr. Hatem al-Haj) — resolution extending the category to Islamic education and institutional support
• Wahb, Yousef Aly. "The Use and Misuse of Zakāh Funds by Religious Institutions in North America." Religions 14, no. 2 (2023): 164.

Related Reading

• The Eight Zakat Categories — overview of all eight categories
• Does the Recipient Own What They Receive? — how ownership requirements interact with communal spending