Question: Is it permissible for an indebted person to give sadaqah?
ANSWER
If one has taken out a loan and if it has to be paid off immediately, it is not permissible for one to give sadaqah. But there is nothing wrong with giving sadaqah if one pays it in installments.

Question: I have debts that I pay regularly in installments. I know that an indebted person must pay off his debts first. In spite of this, can I give a little sadaqah?
ANSWER
Yes, it is accepted.

Question: Which one brings more thawab: a gift or sadaqah?
ANSWER
First nafaqah to one’s family, then sadaqah, then a gift.

Question: Can donations made with the intention of saqadah be performed by way of agency (wakalah)?
ANSWER
Yes, it can.

Question: While giving sadaqah, is it permissible to intend to send its thawab also to our Master the Prophet?
ANSWER
It is better for a person giving sadaqah to intend to send its thawab to our Master the Prophet and all Believers. The total thawab is given to each of them without any decrease in the thawab of the donor. (Radd-ul-Mukhtar)

Question: Begging is haram. Is it permissible to ask a person to give a single cigarette or a light?
ANSWER
It is permissible. Asking for such petty things is not counted as begging.

Question: Is the food that we give to cats we keep at home or dogs counted as sadaqah?
ANSWER
Of course it is. In addition to it, if cats, dogs, or pigs eat whatever they find at home or in our gardens, e.g., if a wolf eats our lamb, if a fox eats our chicken, if an eagle eats our chick, all is considered sadaqah. It is stated in a hadith-i sharif:

(That which is eaten from the tree a Muslim planted is sadaqah. What is stolen from that tree or what wild animals or birds eat from it is sadaqah.) [Muslim]