What is the ruling of Sadaqah al-Fitr?
Shaikh Bin Baaz said:
Zakat al-Fitr is obligatory on every Muslim, old and young, male and female, whether he is free or if he is a slave.
Al Fataawa (14/ 197)
From what is Zakat al-Fitr to be given in?
Shaikh Bin Baaz said:
It is to be given out as a measurement of food. That is a saa’a of dates or a saa’a of barley or a saa’a of raisins. Any of these types of food products is permissible. The scholars have also said, everything that the people of your particular land consider as their daily food such as rice or wheat or any grains etc.. is also permissible to be given as Zakat al-Fitr.
NOTE: A Saa’a is approximately 3 kilograms.
When is the Zakat al-Fitr to be given out?
Shaikh Bin Baaz said:
It is to be given out on the 28th day or the 29th day or the 30th. Even the night before the Eid Prayer, or the morning of the Eid but before the prayer.
Al Fataawa (14/32-33)
What is the reason behind giving out Zakat al-Fitr?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
To show your grateful for the blessings of Allah the Most-High on the Eid with breaking your fast from Ramadaan and it’s completion.
Al Fataawa (18-257)
And who is this Zakat al-Fitr to be given to?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
It is not to be given out to anyone except the poor.
Al Fataawa (18/259)
What is the ruling on entrusting one’s children or other than them to pay his Zakat al-Fitr?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
It is permissible to entrust one’s children to pay his Zakat al-Fitr for him when it is time. Even if at that time they send it from another country.
Al Fataawa (18/262)
Is it permissible for the one that is poor to entrust someone else to collect his Zakat al-Fitr?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
That is permissible.
Al Fataawa (18/268)
Is there any specific dua or statement that one must say when he gives out his Zakat al-Fitr?
We are not aware of any specific dua that one must say when he is distributing his Zakat al-Fitr.
The Permanent Committee of Scholars (9/3877)
Is it permissible to give out the value of the weight of the food stock as your Zakat al-Fitr?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
Giving the Zakat al-Fitr out as money is not permissible. Verily it has been specified as food.
Al Fataawa (18/265)
Is it necessary that the Zakat al-Fitr meets a certain quorum before you have to give it out?
Shaikh Bin Baz said:
The Zakat al-Fitr does not have to meet any quorum, but it is mandatory on the Muslim to give it out on himself and everyone in his household, from his children and his wife and his slaves. If he has enough food for himself and all of them for a day and a night.
Al Fataawa (14/ 197)
What is the specific amount for Zakat al-Fitr?
Shaikh Bin Baz said:
That which is incumbent is a single saa’a from the food of that country. And that amount in kilograms is approximately 3 kilograms.
Al Fataawa (14/ 203)
Is it permissible for the one paying his Zakat al-Fitr to give out in other than the land he resides?
Shaikh Bin Baz said:
It is the Sunnah to dispence it amongst the needy in his own country. Because not sending out to other lands will help enrich the needy in his own country and ease their needs.
Al Fataawa (14/ 213)
Does one have to pay Zakat al-Fitr on the servants in his house?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
These servants in his house, Zakat al-Fitr is mandatory upon them if they are from the Muslims.
But the basis of this Zakat is that it is upon the servants. But if he pays for them when he pays for his family there is nothing wrong with this.
Does one have to pay Zakat al-Fitr on the unborn child in the stomach of its mother?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
One does not have to pay Zakat al-Fitr on the child carried in it’s mother’s stomach because it is not present. But you can if you prefer.
Al Fataawa (18/263)
Is it permissible to give Zakat al-Fitr to workers that are not Muslims?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
No it is not permissible to give to anyone other than the needy from the Muslims.
Al Fataawa (18-285)
Is the Zakat al-Fitr of one person only to be given out to one other person or can it be given to a number of different people?
It is permissible to give one’s Zakat al-Fitr to one person just as it is permissible to dispense it amongst a number of different people.
The Permanent Committee of Scholars (9/3777)
What is the ruling on after one receives Zakat al-Fitr he sells it?
If it was his right to receive it, then it is permissible for him to sell it after he received it.
The Permanent Committee of Scholars (9/3800)
What is the ruling on the one that delayed giving out his Zakat al-Fitr till after the Eid prayer without any justified excuse?
Shaikh al-Uthaymeen said:
Delaying it until after the prayer is sinful and it is not accepted from him.
Al Fataawa (18-266).
When to give the Zakat al Fitr?
Sheikh Salih Al ‘Usaymi, may Allah preserve him, said:
In the authentic (narrations), the Prophet ﷺ said: “Indeed, the month is twenty-nine days.” So advancing it by a day or two would be from the night of the twenty-eight.
Thus, when the sun of the twenty-seventh sets, the time for the Zakat al Fitr begins. And if the month is completed (to thirty days), then the addition of that day is a grace (favour) from Allah in increasing the days of Ramadan and expanding the time for giving (the Zakat al Fitr).
