Paying Zakah in the form of loans for facilitating marriage

Fatwa no. 20335 All praise be to Allah Alone, and may Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon the Last of the Prophets, Muhammad. (Part No. 8; Page No. 454) The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has reviewed what has come to His Eminence the Grand Mufty (Islamic scholar qualified to issue legal opinions) from His Eminence Chief Judge of the High Court of Mabraz and the Chief of the Committee for Facilitating Marriage in Al-Ahsa', Shaykh `Abdullah ibn `Abdul-Rahman Al-Muhisin under no. (1592) and dated 22/2/1419 A.H. and which was transferred to the committee by the Secretariat General of the Council of Senior Scholars under no. (2206) dated 24/3/1419 A.H. the letter of His Eminence reads:It gives me pleasure to inform Your Eminence of the issuing of the approval of His Highness the Governor of Al-Ahsa' for the establishment of a committee to help the youth get married. The committee is a part of the charitable committees in the Kingdom which provide financial support to the youth wishing to get married. The aid is in the form of loans, which are to be paid back, or in the form of grants to them as charity or Zakah (obligatory charity).According to the Fatwa of Your Eminence, which permitted channeling some aid from Zakah funds to those who wish to get married, the committee has received some Zakah funds from some benevolent people. Since one form of aid provided by the committee is to offer loans to be paid back by the borrower, I hope - after Your Eminence has investigated the case, you can give us a Fatwa in this regard. Is it permissible to offer loans to those wishing to get married from the Zakah funds, which are to be repaid to the committee?Or, should the Zakah money be given only to the needy with no obligation on them to repay what they have received? It should be noted that most of the funds that come (Part No. 8; Page No. 455) to the committee are paid as Zakah?