The Zakat of 'Eid Al-Fitr

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
In the Name of Allah,
the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.


Who must pay it

The Zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr is obligatory for every
free Muslim, provided :

(a)  that one has the necessary amount  ( 2.03
liters or 2.5 kg) 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 ( 2.03 liters or 2.5 kg per per-
son 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 obliged 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 a 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
Ramadhan ).

What type of food must be given

The zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr consists of 2.03 liters
or 2.5 kg 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 ( The Hanafi
school permits paying 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 ( such as by giving barley where wheat is the
main staple ).

Abdullah bin Umar رضى الله عنهما reported that

Rasoolullah  صلى الله عليه وسلم said Fix one sa'a

( a measurement  ) of dates or barley as zakat ul- fitr.

It is permissible to give the zakat of 'Eid al-Fitr
( to a deserving recipients ) anytime during
Ramadhan, 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).

*  If a person dies after magrib on the day, still
zakat ul-fitr ( becomes) wajib on him, whether it
was possible for him to pay it or not ( because
when it was wajib he was alive ) but if a person
dies before maghrib it is not wajib .

*  If a child was born before maghrib it is wajib
on the child, but if the child is born after maghrib
it is not wajib ( because when it became wajib
the child was not born yet ).

Extracts from
Ahmad ibn Naqib al- Misri
Reliance of the Traveller
Tran .. Nuh Ha mim Keller