The money of disabled students who study abroad

Fatwa no. 21061 All praise be to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon the last Prophet. To proceed:The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has examined the letter sent to (Part No. 8; Page No. 238) His Eminence the Grand Mufty by His Highness the Director General of the Department of Missions Affairs, subordinate to the Ministry of Higher Education. The letter was sent under number B4/12452, and dated 24/6/1420 A.H. It was transmitted to the Committee from the Secretariat General of the Council of Senior Scholars under number 3378 and dated 26/6/1420. His Highness has asked the following question:We want to put before the reverent Committee that the Ministry of Higher Education is responsible for supervising disabled students in sanatoriums outside the Kingdom. These students receive monthly allowances that have accumulated into large sums with the passage of years, which now amount to more than one million Saudi riyals. As some of these sums are invested in Islamic banks, this led to the accumulation of their annual revenues. These funds are still in the banks after the completion of a Hawl (one lunar year calculated from the time a property reaches the minimum amount upon which Zakah is due), which makes Zakah (obligatory charity) due on them. Since the Zakah cannot be returned to the Ministry, it has been suggested that it should either be spent on children of Saudi parents residing in that country who are stranded and have no financial resources, or be transferred to philanthropic associations in the Kingdom to disperse to recipients deserving of Zakah. Please provide us with the opinion of the Committee regarding the two opinions mentioned above, or advise if there is a preferable third opinion.We then contacted the hospital to get more details about the question. His Highness the Director General of the Department of Missions Affairs replied with the following letter, number B4/14213, and dated 16/71420 A.H.: (Part No. 8; Page No. 239) We sent letter number 12452, dated 24/6/1420 A.H., enquiring about the opinion of the Permanent Committee regarding the Zakah due on the money of disabled students residing outside the Kingdom. The reverent Committee asked for some information from the representative of the Ministry, Dr. Sulayman ibn `Abdul-Rahman Al-`Anqary, the former cultural attaché in the Arab Republic of Egypt, when he met His Eminence the Grand Mufty of the Kingdom and their Highnesses the members of the Permanent Committee on Tuesday, 10/07/1420 AH, at the headquarter of the Permanent Committee in the General Presidency of the Departments of Scholarly research and 'Ifta'. Thus it is our pleasure to report the following:1- A monthly allowance is given to each disabled student from the budget of the Ministry, and is deposited into the bank account of the cultural attaché.2- The funds referred to here - which remained after the completion of several Hawls - belong to mentally retarded persons who cannot dispose of the scholarship money allocated to them. Moreover, the parents of many of them do not want to draw on these balances, and other parents have no contact with the cultural attaché.By virtue of his work, the cultural attaché is the person who receives this allowance money (Part No. 8; Page No. 240) and deposits it into his bank account, where he spends from it on the needs of each disabled person and invests the rest for their benefit.We hope that this meets all requirements and that the reverent Committee will provide us with the opinion of their Eminence the Shaykhs.