Could some one pay his/her ZAKAT AL Maal by Visa or Master card? Are Mosques allowed to process Visa and Master Card to collect donations? Or is it forbidden and considered to be REBAA?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

We have already issued Fataawa 84519 and 81447 clarifying the ruling on the permissible and prohibited kinds of credit cards. Therefore, if the card by which Zakah is paid is permissible and does not involve any Riba (interest and/or usury) in its use, and the bank does not take a percentage from the amount paid for Zakah and does not condition in the contract an interest when delaying the repayment, then it is permissible to pay Zakah with this kind of credit card provided the authority which takes care of distributing Zakah is a trustworthy one and pays it to the people who are eligible for Zakah. Also, it is permissible for Islamic centres to arrange the collection of Zakah through the permissible kind of credit cards.

However, if the credit card is among the forbidden kinds which condition in the contract an interest when delaying the repayment, or take a percentage from the paid amount, then it is not permissible in this case to pay Zakah with this card as it involves Riba, and it is not permissible for Islamic centres to collect Zakah with these kind of forbidden cards.

Allaah Knows best.