What is Zakaat al Fitr (Fitra)?
Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) said:
“Rasulallah Sallallahu alayhi wasalam made giving a saa’ of dates or a saa’ of barley as Zakaat al-Fitr an obligation for all Muslims, slave and free, male and female, young and old, and ordered that it should be given before the people went out to pray (Salaat al-Eid).”
Sahih Al-Bukhaari, 1503.
Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
“We used to pay as Zakaat al-Fitr a saa’ of food or a saa’ of barley (which was their food at that time) or a saa’ or dates or a saa’ of aqit (dried yoghurt) or a saa’ of raisins.”
Sahih Al Bukhari, 1506
Zakaat al Fitr is a fardh obligation to dispense with prior to performing Eid ul Fitr Salah. Thus it a is a form of compulsory charity.
Should the charity be dispensed with after the Eid Salah, it then loses its status as Zakaat-al-Fitr and defaults to it being a Sadaqah; voluntary charity, therefore the obligation remains unfulfilled.
The narrations do not refer to dinar nor dirham, thus dispensing zakaat-al-fitr should be dispensed with food of the land (staple) or other preferred grain.
Sa’a : 2,5kg
A Sa’a is a unit of measure which translates to what we understand as approximately 2.5 kilograms.
4 Muhd (4 cupped handfuls) : 1 Sa’a
A Sa’a is however, made up of 4 Muhd.
1 Muhd : a Cupped Handful
A Muhd, is four cupped handfuls of an average person.
Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
RasulAllah Sallallahu Alayhi wasalam enjoined zakaat al-fitr as a purification for the fasting person from idle and obscene speech,
and to feed the poor.
Whoever gives it before the prayer, it is zakaat al-fitr,
whoever gives it after the prayer, it is ordinary charity.
Narrated by Abu Dawood and classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood
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