It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man said: "O Messenger of Allah! I have much wealth and a family and children. What is required of me, what I should do or how I should spend?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Pay the obligatory zakah, for it will purify you; treat your relatives kindly; and recognise the right of the one who asks, of the neighbour and of the poor." He said: "O Messenger of Allah! Make it less for me." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then give the relatives, the poor and the travellers their right, and do not squander wastefully." He said: "O Messenger of Allah! If I pay the zakah to the envoy sent by the Messenger of Allah, have I then paid it to Allah and His Messenger?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes; when you have paid it to his (the Messenger's) envoy, you have paid it, and you will have its reward, and whoever alters it (from its due), the sin of it will be upon him." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), and they did not record it.