7- THE ZAKAT OF ‘ElD AL-FITR WHO MUST PAY IT
THE ZAKAT OF ‘EID AL-FITR WHO MUST PAY IT
The zakat of ‘Eid al-Fitr is obligatory for every free Muslim, provided:
a) that one has the necessary amount (0: 2.03 liters of food);
b) and that on the night before the ‘Eid and on the ‘Eid itself, this is in excess of what one needs to feed oneself and those whom one is obliged to support, what one needs to clothe them, and in excess of one’s debts and housing expenses.
If one’s excess amounts to only part of the required zakat, one must pay as much of it as one has.
PAYING THE ZAKAT OF ‘EID AL-FITR FOR ONE’S DEPENDENTS
Someone obligated to pay the zakat of ‘Eid al-Fitr must also pay it for every person he is obliged to support, such as his wife and family (e.g. his young son, grandson, father, or mother), if they are Muslim and if he has enough food (0: 2.03 liters per person above his own expenses and theirs), though he is not obliged to pay it for his father’s wife when supporting his father because of the father’s financial difficulties, even though he is obliged to support her.
If one is obligated to pay the zakat of Eid al-Fitr but only has enough to pay part of it, then one begins by paying one’s own, then that of one’s wife, young child, father, mother, and then one’s adult son (without an income, as when he is chronically ill or insane, for otherwise one is not obligated to support him).
A wealthy woman married to a man too poor to pay her ‘Eid al-Fitr zakat is not obliged to pay her own (though it is Sunna for her to pay this and all forms of zakat to her husband, even if he spends it on her).
The zakat of ‘Eid al-Fitr becomes obligatory when the sun sets on the night before the ‘Eid (meaning on the evening of the last day of Ramadan).
WHAT TYPE OF FOOD MUST BE GIVEN
The zakat of ‘Eid al-Fitr consists of 2.03 liters of the main staple of the area in which it is given, of the kinds of crops on which zakat is payable. (If the main staple is bread, as in many countries, only wheat may be given, and is what is meant by the expression giving food here and, in all texts, below dealing with expiations (e.g. j3.22(2)).) (The Hanafi school permits paying the poor the wheat’s value in money, both here and for expiations.) It is permissible to give the best quality of the staple food of the area, but not to give less than the usual quality (0: such as by giving barley where wheat is the main staple).
It is permissible to give the zakat of ‘Eid al-Fitr (N: to deserving recipients anytime during Ramadan, though the best time is on the day of ‘Eid al-Fitr before the. prayer. It is not permissible to delay giving it until after the day of the ‘Eid (that is, one may give it until sunset), and is a sin to delay until after this, and one must make it up (by paying it late).
(Source: The reliance of the traveller, revised edition, Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller)
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