Suhaib Webb – An Overview of Zakat alFitr
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss various topics related to Islam, including protecting against Yoqd, giving money to non-M pizzas, giving food to those in debt, and fulfilling obligations. They also touch on the use of z Zachary fitr as a way to pay for support and the importance of distributing it before the day of Bookah. The practice of "meditation" is mentioned as helping people to reflect on the blessings of Islam and share them with others. fulfilling a duty of gratitude and hope for acceptance is crucial to achieving acceptance.
AI: Summary ©
Swiss family. Hope you guys are great. Blessed
Ramadan to all of you and Eid around
the corner.
Had a lot of questions. You know, there
is a q and a option now on
the Swiss website. People are using it. I
am backlogged. Oh my goodness.
A lot of things going on.
And a number of questions about zakat al
fitr. The word zakat, of course, is from
the word which means to grow and purify.
It's not a cancerous growth. It's a healthy
growth.
And fitr means to break. Idasamaonfatalat.
The Quran says that in the hereafter, the
heavens will will split. Right? Will break. So
fitr here means to to break our fast.
So the zakah for breaking our fast the
the zakah that we pay at the end
of the month of fasting,
There are some wisdoms for this, and that
is that zakat al fitr. And this article,
you'll find actually on the Swiss blog at
blog.suheba.com.
And so there's a number of questions that
were asked I answered in in this article.
I'm just reading from that article and sharing
some thoughts with you. Suqat al Fitr is
ordained
in Islam as a means of purifying the
fasting individual from any sins and negligence and
to compensate for any shortcomings or neglect during
the fasting period.
It allows a fasting person to conclude the
month of Ramadan being consistent. A, don't think
just because you finished the month of Ramadan
you can relax. Hey. Give zakat al fitr.
Keep going. Keep the momentum.
Hoping that Allah will accept the month for
us. So we learned that we can use
good deeds as a means to ask Allah
to accept things we've done.
Here's example
of zakat al Fitr. Moreover, it aims to
enrich the underserved to make sure that we
limit the social and economic stratification that may
exist in societies that we live in. There's
statements of the prophet about this. The prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said is related by the
rukutni,
enriched them, the underserved on this day.
And ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with
them both, he said that the prophet, peace
be upon him, he
ordained zakat al fitr as a purification for
the fasting person from idle talk and obscenities
and as a food for the underserved.
This is related my imam Abu Dawud.
Who is it obligatory upon
to pay zakat al fitr?
It is mandatory upon every Muslim male or
female, adult adult or child,
rich or poor, as long as they have
sufficient provisions beyond their basic needs, as well
as their dependents. Of course, the children of
their parents are gonna pay for them. Even
the parents, as we'll talk about, can pay
for their adult children
as long as
those those people have
the basic needs for themselves and their their
their dependents.
So the Muslim is required,
even if you're a new Muslim, okay, to
pay it on behalf of his or herself,
their spouse, and anyone they are obligated to
support,
such as a minor
and adult and adult children under their care,
as well as parents who may be underserved
or impoverished.
So this like, we wanna think about zikatul
fitr being linked to directly to those obligations
of support.
K?
It is permissible
for a Muslim to pay zakat al fitr
personally or to delegate someone else to pay
it on their behalf. It's best to pay
it,
the day of Eid before the Eid prayer,
but that can be difficult now. So you
can also give it or pay it, the
night before,
the after Maghrib, the last night of Ramadan,
the first
beginning of Shawwal. You can pay it at
that time as well. We'll talk about that
shortly.
Place of payment, you know, primarily zakat al
fitr should be distributed in a person's country
of residence
as with zakat in general.
However, transferring it to another country, say, like
Gaza
or
Kashmir
or Yemen
or anywhere or even in another state where,
you know, there's people who need help
is accepted,
especially if you're like an expat and you
have family or relatives overseas. It makes sense.
This is allowed because it serves a greater
as we'll talk about, shortly about sending zakah
overseas,
in one of our recordings here for all
of you. But in general, it's allowed
especially based on the statement of Abdurrahman ibn
Qasem, who's a student of Marek Rahim
about this issue.
We'll talk about that in another,
session, inshallah.
What's the timing? We'll talk about that in
greater detail in another,
video, so look for that one. But it's
recommended to distribute it and pay it on
the day of Eid before the Eid prayer,
but it can also be done the night
before.
And some scholars even allow it to be
done even earlier than that,
but
I I feel safe saying, like, Maghrib,
first
beginning of Shawwal,
the last day of Ramadan,
so that it's not considered,
out of this kind of safe zone. But
there there's opinions that allow it. Whatever is
easier for people.
There are questions about, you know, can you
give it
in money, or do you have to give
it, you know, in in, say, food stuff?
So we have a separate section on that,
a separate video coming for that, but let's
just quickly review it here to make it
easy in case people don't have time to
watch it there. So while the principle for
zakatofitter
is food,
distributing its equivalent
in its equivalent value in money is permissible.
According to the North American field council,
the zigato fit that this year is gonna
be $10. This this idea of distributing it
as wealth or money is not an innovation.
As we recently saw the Mufti of Saudi
Arabia say some things which I feel are
very, like, somewhat highly irresponsible.
Sayna he was seen giving it, as a,
as as as cash, as were other sahaba,
you know, in their time.
This is definitely the opinion of Omar ibn
Abdul Aziz,
the 5th Khalifa, as we say, who also
encouraged that. And then, of course, we know,
Imam Abu Khalifa, this is
one of the the the beautiful,
opinions of his madhav that came out of
his thought and his school's thought. So we
shouldn't say this is a bidah.
It's incredible.
It means that we're irresponsible to be saying
that these great people,
Imam Abu Harifa was someone a billah.
And that that's that's another
series of talks we're gonna have at Swiss
on framing the contemporary Muslim mind. How do
we protect ourselves
from thinking this way? You know, it doesn't
mean that Abu Hanifa or Imam Malik or
others didn't make mistakes, of course, but bidah.
Yeah. Allah the whole entire madhab.
We have to be careful of of this
kind of post colonial
literal fascism
that allows someone then to retroactively
look back at their history
and drain any morality in connection with their
spiritual ancestors.
So according to the North American faith council,
which I sit on,
it will be $10 this year
per person.
The amount of zakaltofitter
is one of a sai.
A sai,
the most common food that people consume in
an area. So whether it's wheat,
rice, beans, lentils,
raisins, and other things. We'll talk about the
sa,
in the future.
It's around 2 point,
2.04
kilograms, I believe.
Other
other areas, 2.5. I'll get into the details
in a minute. I can't remember. I'm I'm
fasting like you guys, so my brain is
a little slow. And
I'm, I I prefer to give a speech
without looking at notes but I'm looking at
notes here just to make sure that, I
cover everything that needs to be covered.
According to the hadith of ibn Umar
the prophet
ordained
zakat fitr as one sah of dates,
one sa of barley, and 1 and every
slave and free person, male
and female,
has to pay it upon every
slave or free person,
female or male, young or old, amongst the
Muslims. And he instructed that he paid before
the people could go out to eat prayer.
This is mentioned by Al Buhari. Although if
someone forgets to pay it or they're somehow
kept from paying it,
without an excuse, that would be sinful, but
they should still pay it whenever,
ideally before the end of the day. But
even if they miss, say,
that day without a reason,
they should pay it as soon as they
can.
A saw of wheat is around 2.04
kilograms.
As for the other items from which the
cut can be given such as beans, rice,
raisins, the average for those is around 2.5
kilograms.
2 and a half kilogram.
The expenditure zakat fitr is designated for the
poor and the needy following the financial expenditures
outlined
in the Quran.
In Surat Tawba,
Allah says, indeed, charity is only for the
poor, the needy, those employed to collect the
funds, and for bringing hearts together,
for freeing captives. Some people ask, can you
give zakat al fitz or to non Muslims?
Well, if they're eligible and you may feel
they're from,
those who may lean towards Islam,
you can give it to them. For freeing
captives or slaves,
for those in debt in the cause of
Allah, those who are in the cause of
Allah, for those in debt and those in
the cause of Allah and for those who
are stranded.
And this says the Quran says
is an obligation imposed by Allah, and Allah
is the all knowing, the wise. This, of
course, is Suratul Tawba. So those are the
people eligible for zakatul.
It's crucial to remember that zakatul fitr aims
at more than just a financial transaction. Right?
It's an act of worship and social welfare,
which is powerful. Right? So you have this
kind of
meeting of Ibadah
and social welfare worship and social work reflecting
the spirit of communal support and care in
Islam.
The termination of whether to pay in kind
with food or with money should be guided
by what is more beneficial. People ask, should
I give money or should I give food?
What's
most beneficial for where you live? That's the
question that you need to ask yourself. So
it's based on the Maslaha. You may give
I've seen this before. People gave people barley
and wheat,
and those people, it just
it just, like, rotted. They didn't know what
to do with it, unfortunately. I've been in
Muslim countries where people are poor and people
gave them money, and they actually needed
foodstuffs.
So we have a very important principle.
Right? The can change according to time, place,
situation, need, so on and so forth.
The allowance to pay the equivalent value in
money takes into consideration
ease for not only the recipient but for
the institutions. And I've seen this again years
ago. People would come and bring foodstuffs and
it would just pile up in front of
the mosque. Grand.
And and in fact, the people wouldn't even
take it. Like, the people who were eligible
would not even take it.
So I I give it in in cash
where I live.
There's wisdom behind zakatul fitr, alhamdulillah.
It serves multiple wisdoms. We talked about some
of them. It cleans cleanses us of our
sins.
It's an expiation for shortcoming. It's bringing Muslims
together, removing the social stratification, economic stratification, brings
in the idea of worship and social welfare
all in this very beautiful act, alhamdulillah.
It also allows us to reflect on the
blessings of Allah
and how we should share
those blessings with those who may not have
been given those blessings. It's an act that
solidifies our sense of unity
in a way that moves beyond platitudes
and steps into actual policy, which I think
is very important. So it's a it's a
beautiful practice and it embodies the values of
empathy, generosity, and communal support.
It reminds us of our broader social obligations
as we hold each other accountable in many
ways, in a healthy way, especially when we
think about our service of those who are
less
underserved.
As we approach Eid, let's
fulfill this duty with our heart full of
gratitude and hope for acceptance from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Some people ask, can you pay
it online?
Yes. You can. You pay it online. You
can go to any charity that you trust.
Most of the time, they have as a
katil filter box. You click it. You pay.
You're out. Some people ask about stepchildren.
If you are financially
out of custom,
responsible for taking care of those stepchildren, then
you can pay and
more than, welcome to pay zakat al fitr
on their behalf.