Shariah rules
Turn the special handling of Zakat and Waqf categories on or off, and customise your organisation's list of Zakat recipient channels (masaref).
WAQAF treats Zakat and Waqf money differently from ordinary funds, because the sharīʿah does. Waqf principal is meant to be preserved rather than spent, and Zakat may only go to the eligible recipient channels — the masaref (asnaf). The Zakat & Waqf rules settings are where your organisation decides how strictly the system enforces those two principles, and where you maintain your own list of Zakat channels. You'd come here once, when you first set up finance, to confirm the rules match how your charity works — and rarely after that.
By default both controls are on, which is the strict, fail-safe behaviour. You only need to open this page if your organisation handles Zakat or Waqf differently and wants to relax one of the rules, or to rename and extend the list of recipient channels.
Who can do this. Changing these rules needs a finance role that grants approve — in practice the Finance Manager or the CEO (an organisation Owner or Admin can too). The Accountant and Auditor roles cannot reach this page: an accountant who could flip a rule could quietly lift a control on a money system, so the system blocks it. If you don't see the Zakat & Waqf rules option in the settings menu, your role doesn't allow it; see Members & roles.
Where to find it. Finance → Settings → Zakat & Waqf rules.
What the two rules do
There are two independent switches. Each one gates a specific control elsewhere in the finance screens. When a switch is off, the affected categories simply behave like any other ordinary, spendable category.
Protect Waqf principal (non-spendable)
When this is on (the default), you cannot record an expense against a Waqf-principal category. The endowment capital is preserved — staff can spend the returns on a Waqf, but not the principal itself. If someone tries to pay a voucher from a Waqf-principal category, the system refuses it.
When you turn it off, Waqf-principal categories can be spent from like any other category, and that block goes away.
Require a masaref (asnaf) when spending Zakat
When this is on (the default), disbursing from a Zakat category forces the person raising the voucher to identify one of your active recipient channels — which of the masaref the money is going to. They cannot save the voucher without picking one.
When you turn it off, Zakat is spent like a regular category, with no channel required.
These rules are about spending — the payment voucher and staff-request coding. They don't change how Zakat or Waqf income is received; that's governed by the fund a donation lands in. Setting the rules here decides what happens when money goes out.
The masaref (Zakat recipient channels)
Below the two switches is your organisation's list of Zakat disbursement channels — the masaref. This is the list a colleague picks from when the asnaf requirement is on and they're spending from a Zakat category.
The list starts with the eight canonical asnaf named in the Qur'an (9:60): the poor, the needy, those administering the Zakat, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, freeing captives, the debtors, in the cause of Allah, and the wayfarer. Each canonical channel carries a small lock and a Canonical label.
For every channel you can set:
- English name and Arabic name — how the channel reads in each language. Both are required for every channel.
- Active — a switch. An active channel can be chosen on a voucher; deactivating one hides it from new vouchers without deleting it, so historical vouchers that used it still show the right channel.
The eight canonical asnaf can be renamed or deactivated, but never removed. They have a lock icon and no delete button — only your own custom channels can be removed. This is deliberate: it keeps the canonical channels available so older Zakat disbursements always resolve to a recognised recipient.
Edit the rules
Open Finance → Settings → Zakat & Waqf rules
From the dashboard, go to Finance, choose Settings, then select Zakat & Waqf rules from the menu down the side. If that option isn't there, your role doesn't include these settings (see the note at the top).
Set the two rule switches
Decide whether to Protect Waqf principal and whether to Require a masaref when spending Zakat. Leave them on unless your organisation has a reason to relax them. The short note under each switch explains what turning it off changes.
Adjust the channel list
In Masaref (Zakat recipient channels), you can:
- Rename any channel — including the canonical ones — by editing its English and Arabic names.
- Deactivate a channel you no longer use with its Active switch. It stays in the list but won't appear on new vouchers.
- Add channel to create one of your own, then give it an English and an Arabic name.
- Remove channel to delete one of your own channels (the canonical eight have no remove button).
Save rules
Nothing is stored until you choose Save rules at the bottom. The page confirms with Zakat & Waqf rules saved and shows the date of the last change.
The form checks two things before it will save: every channel must have both an English and an Arabic name, and — while the masaref requirement is on — at least one channel must stay active. If either isn't met, you'll see a short message and the save won't go through until you fix it.
Changes apply to new vouchers only. Editing these rules never reaches back and rewrites vouchers you've already raised. A posted voucher keeps the channel and the treatment it had at the time. Ledger entries are never altered or deleted in WAQAF; if an old voucher is wrong, it's corrected with a reversing entry, not by changing it here.
If the rules can't be read, the strict behaviour wins. WAQAF fails safe: any time the system can't read your saved rules — a fresh organisation that has never opened this page, or a rare read hiccup — it behaves as though both controls are on and the canonical eight asnaf apply. A control is only relaxed when you have deliberately switched it off.
See also
Create a payment voucher
Where the Waqf lock and the masaref requirement are enforced when money goes out.
Categories
Set up the spending categories and the funds — Zakat, Waqf and ordinary — these rules apply to.
Finance settings
The home for all your finance reference data and rules.
Members & roles
Why the Zakat & Waqf rules option might be hidden for you, and which role unlocks it.