“I once said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), that there is a man whose father has died and he is indebted. Can he pay the debts on his father from Zakat he owes when the son has a great wealth? He (the Imam) said, ‘If his father has left a legacy for him and then it is found out that there are debts on his father that he did not know on that day, he pays the debts from the whole legacy, but he does not pay it from his Zakat. However, if he did not leave any legacy then no one is more deserving of his Zakat than the debts of his father. If he pays off the debts of his father in such case it is acceptable (as payment of Zakat).”’