In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, thanks a lot for your confidence in us, and we implore Allah to guide all Muslims to show kindness and sympathy towards one another. May He the Almighty guide them to sincerely help one another to achieve the desired unity and become a unified and powerful Ummah, Amen.
In his response to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America, states the following:
According to the Qur’an, Allah Almighty says: “The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is knower, Wise.” (At-Tawbah 60)
One of the eight categories of people who can take zakah are those who are employed to collect it or al-`amilina `alayha. Those who collect the zakah are allowed to take their reasonable expenses from the zakah charity. These expenses may include but are not limited to office expenses, employees’ salaries, travel expenses, postage and bank expenses, etc.
However, the expenses have to be actual expenses and you are not allowed to take more than what you spend. You should also be very careful in these expenses and should not spend mo
re than what is necessary. However, to make a long-term plan for hiring employees, renting offices etc., you may need a sure amount of funds.
Thus it is permissible to withdraw a fixed amount such as 5% or 10% or more for this purpose, but you are only entitled to keep the actual expenses. At the end of a year, whatever is left after meeting the expenses should be returned to the zakah fund and should be disbursed among the recipients of zakah.”
Excerpted with slight modifications from www.pakistanlink.net
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to write back!
May Allah guide you to the straight path, and guide you to that which pleases Him, Amen.