Sadaqat al-Fitr: Liability, Amounts, and Timing

1. Scope of Sadaqat al-Fitr

باب صدقة الفطر
Translation: Chapter on Sadaqat al-Fitr.

Sadaqat al-fitr is a required charitable payment linked with Eid al-Fitr. The chapter explains who is liable, whose payment a person must cover, the fixed quantities of food, and the moment liability begins.

This is the final chapter of Kitab al-Zakat. It addresses the particular rules of fitrah while relying on the broader principles of lawful charitable distribution studied previously.

2. Essential conditions of liability

صدقة الفطر واجبة على الحر المسلم إذا كان مالكا لمقدار النصاب
Translation: Fitrah is obligatory upon a free Muslim who owns wealth equal to the nisab.

The text attaches liability to being Muslim, free in the historical legal framework, and possessing the relevant nisab. It describes a legal obligation, not simply a voluntary Eid gift.

The following clause qualifies the property test: essential personal needs are excluded before determining the relevant surplus.

3. Nisab after essential needs

فاضلا عن مسكنه وثيابه وأثاثه وفرسه وسلاحه وعبيده للخدمة
Translation: The nisab must be surplus to his dwelling, clothing, furnishings, horse, weapon, and service slaves.

“Surplus to” means the threshold is considered after allowing for indispensable personal needs. A dwelling, ordinary clothes, and essential household possessions illustrate this principle.

The horse, weapon, and service-slave examples reflect the manual’s historical setting. Their inclusion preserves the text; applying the broader essential-needs principle today requires appropriate juristic assessment.

4. Distinguishing fitrah from annual zakat

The fitrah threshold is based on surplus wealth after essential needs, not solely on possession of business stock or precious metals.

Do not assume that every condition for annual zakat transfers unchanged to fitrah. The earlier chapters discuss qualifying property and the passage of a year; this chapter has its own event-based timing rule.

5. Payment for oneself and young children

يخرج ذلك عن نفسه وعن أولاده الصغار
Translation: He pays it on his own behalf and on behalf of his young children.

“For himself” establishes personal liability; “his young children” adds his minor offspring. The text expressly connects a father’s duty to minors.

For example, a liable father with two minor children has three covered persons under this statement: himself and the two children. The separate rule about his wife follows next.

6. Service slaves in the historical rule

وعن مماليكه
Translation: And on behalf of those he legally owned.

The passage uses a legal category from the historical institution of slavery. Earlier it refers specifically to slaves kept for service, distinguishing them from trading inventory.

This is a historical rule preserved for accurate study, not an instruction to engage in slavery today. Subsequent clauses qualify it for contractual and trade cases.

7. Payment on behalf of a wife

ولا يؤدي عن زوجته
Translation: He is not required to pay fitrah on behalf of his wife.

The clause means that the husband is not automatically legally responsible for his wife’s fitrah. Her own liability is assessed separately if she meets its conditions.

It does not establish that a husband can never pay on her behalf with appropriate authorisation. The text identifies obligatory responsibility, not every permissible arrangement of agency.

8. Adult children assessed separately

ولا عن أولاده الكبار وإن كانوا في عياله
Translation: Nor for his grown children, even if they are among his dependants.

Grown children are not treated as minor children merely because they live in the family home or are financially supported by their father.

An adult child’s liability is considered independently. The distinction in the text is age and legal responsibility, not simply household residence.

9. Contractual and trading-slave cases

ولا يخرج عن مكاتبه ولاعن مماليكه للتجارة
Translation: He does not pay on behalf of his mukatab or slaves held as trading stock.

A mukatab was an enslaved person with a contractual arrangement to obtain freedom; the second category comprises those held as saleable stock in the historical legal system.

Read this beside the service-slave rule: the original juristic system did not treat every form of ownership alike for fitrah liability.

10. A jointly owned slave

والعبد بين شريكين لا فطرة على واحد منهما
Translation: For a slave jointly held by two partners, neither partner is liable for his fitrah under this ruling.

“Between two partners” identifies joint ownership. The manual assigns it a particular historical ruling; it does not require each partner to pay half of a fitrah.

The statement is limited to this particular legal case and should not be extrapolated to unrelated arrangements.

11. Non-Muslim slave in the historical rule

ويؤدي المولى المسلم الفطرة عن عبده الكافر
Translation: A Muslim master pays fitrah on behalf of his non-Muslim slave.

The expression names a Muslim owner and a non-Muslim enslaved person in the historical legal framework. The specified liability is attributed to the owner in that relationship.

It does not state that fitrah is a general, direct obligation on every non-Muslim individual.

12. A consolidated household framework

Summarise the separate categories carefully. The liable individual pays for himself and, under this text, his minor children. A wife and grown children are not automatically placed on the husband’s or father’s account.

The historical slave categories have distinct rules for service, contractual freedom, trade, and joint ownership. Do not collapse these legal categories into one blanket statement.

13. Wheat: half a saʿ

والفطرة: نصف صاع من بر
Translation: The fitrah amount is half a saʿ of wheat.

Burr means wheat. “Half a saʿ” is half of the historical saʿ measure, not half a kilogram. The text will shortly report differing weight interpretations of that measure.

The amount is for each person covered. First determine the number of persons, then multiply by the stated food allowance per person.

14. Dates, raisins, and barley: one saʿ

أو صاع من تمر أو زبيب أو شعير
Translation: Or one saʿ of dates, raisins, or barley.

The three other named foods are dates, raisins, and barley. Each requires one full saʿ; wheat is distinguished by its half-saʿ quantity.

The source names four foods in total: wheat, dates, raisins and barley. Keep both the list and the difference in quantities intact.

15. Comparison of all four foods

Wheat: half a saʿ per person. Dates: one saʿ. Raisins: one saʿ. Barley: one saʿ.

These are all four foods listed in this passage. For three persons, wheat totals 1.5 saʿ; barley totals 3 saʿ. This illustrates quantities only and does not calculate a present-day cash value.

16. Saʿ according to Abu Hanifah and Muhammad

والصاع عند أبي حنيفه ومحمد ثمانية أرطال بالعراقي
Translation: According to Abu Hanifah and Muhammad, one saʿ equals eight Iraqi ratls.

The ratl is a historical unit of weight, here specifically the Iraqi ratl. The stated number is eight ratls to one saʿ.

Under that interpretation, half a saʿ of wheat amounts to four Iraqi ratls. No definitive modern kilogram conversion is asserted from this text alone.

17. Saʿ according to Abu Yusuf

وقال أبو يوسف: خمسة أرطال وثلث رطل
Translation: Abu Yusuf says that one saʿ is five and one-third ratls.

This is a difference in the historical weight of a saʿ: eight Iraqi ratls in the earlier view, versus five and one-third ratls according to Abu Yusuf.

It is separate from the rule that wheat uses half a saʿ and the other three foods use a full saʿ. Do not mistake a disagreement over measurement for a disagreement over which foods are listed.

18. Numerical illustration of the two measures

Under Abu Hanifah and Muhammad: one saʿ = 8 Iraqi ratls and half a saʿ = 4 ratls.

Under Abu Yusuf: one saʿ = 5⅓ ratls and half a saʿ = 2⅔ ratls.

These are calculations within the manual’s historical units, not a verified current kilogram or cash conversion.

19. The decisive moment: dawn of Eid

ووجوب الفطرة يتعلق بطلوع الفجر من يوم الفطر
Translation: Liability for fitrah is linked to the arrival of dawn on Eid al-Fitr.

Fitrah liability is assessed at dawn on the day of Eid. The rule focuses on this precise occasion, rather than the annual zakat cycle.

The following examples distinguish events occurring before that dawn from events occurring afterward. The time of the event matters to the ruling.

20. Death before Eid dawn

فمن مات قبل ذلك لم تجب فطرته
Translation: Someone who dies before that moment does not incur fitrah for that Eid.

If a person dies before the dawn that begins Eid, the liability addressed here does not arise for that individual, because the determining moment has not yet occurred.

“Before that” points back specifically to dawn on Eid, not to dawn on any earlier day of Ramadan.

21. Conversion after Eid dawn

ومن أسلم أو ولد بعد طلوع الفجر لم تجب فطرته
Translation: One who accepts Islam or is born after dawn does not incur fitrah for that Eid.

In the first scenario, someone accepts Islam after dawn on Eid. At the determining instant the relevant condition was not present, so fitrah is not imposed for that Eid.

This is a time-specific ruling, not a claim that a convert can never be liable for fitrah in later years.

22. Birth after Eid dawn

ومن أسلم أو ولد بعد طلوع الفجر لم تجب فطرته
Translation: A person who converts or a baby born after Eid dawn has no fitrah liability for that Eid.

The second case concerns a child born after dawn on Eid: no fitrah for that Eid becomes due on the child’s behalf, because the child did not exist at the decisive moment.

If a child was born before Eid dawn, the earlier rule about minor children can apply when its other conditions are present.

23. Timeline: before and after dawn

Place dawn on Eid at the centre of the timeline. A person who dies before it incurs no fitrah for that Eid. Conversion or birth after that dawn does not create liability for that Eid.

All three examples are applications of the determining moment, but each involves a different legal circumstance. Always identify both the event and its time.

24. Preferred payment before the Eid prayer

ويستحب للناس أن يخرجوا الفطرة يوم الفطر قبل الخروج إلى المصلى
Translation: It is recommended to give fitrah on Eid before leaving for the place of prayer.

The preferred time is on Eid before heading to the place of Eid prayer. This helps ensure timely benefit to eligible recipients.

The determining time for liability and the recommended time for performance are related but separate ideas: liability arises at dawn, while payment before the Eid prayer is recommended.

25. Advance payment before Eid

فإن قدموها قبل يوم الفطر جاز
Translation: If they pay it before Eid day, that is permissible.

The verb indicates making the payment in advance. The manual permits payment before the day of Eid, so payment need not always be withheld until Eid morning.

Advance permission does not move the original moment when liability arises. Keep the rule about the legal trigger distinct from permission to pay early.

26. Late payment remains due

وإن أخروها عن يوم الفطر لم تسقط وكان عليهم إخراجها
Translation: If they delay it until after Eid, the obligation does not fall away; they still must pay it.

“It does not lapse” means the obligation remains outstanding after Eid. Passing the recommended day does not cancel what is owed.

Earlier payment was preferable, but a person who delayed must still fulfil the remaining liability to an eligible recipient.

27. Three distinct legal expressions

The chapter uses three distinct legal ideas: the obligation is fixed at Eid dawn; payment before leaving for Eid prayer is recommended; advance payment before Eid is permitted.

A fourth rule completes the timing picture: missing the day does not erase a liability that has become due.

28. Worked family-liability example

A financially qualified Muslim lives with his wife, one adult daughter and two minor children. Under the specific mandatory responsibility described by the text, he pays for himself and his two minors: three persons.

His wife and adult daughter are not added solely because they share his household. Their own liability is assessed separately, while authorised payment on someone else’s behalf is a different question.

29. Worked food-quantity example

Assume a proper juristic assessment establishes fitrah for four persons. In wheat the total is four times half a saʿ, or two saʿ. In dates, raisins or barley the total is four times one saʿ, or four saʿ of the chosen food.

This is a quantity calculation, not a modern weight conversion or a cash-rate announcement.

30. Chapter synthesis

The determining requirements are Islam, the historical free-person condition, a surplus nisab, and the arrival of Eid dawn. The manual distinguishes personal liability, minor children, adults, spouses and historical enslaved categories.

Wheat requires half a saʿ; dates, raisins and barley require one saʿ each. The weight of the saʿ has differing reported Hanafi interpretations. Advance payment is permissible, payment before the Eid prayer is preferred, and a delayed payment remains due. The next book is Kitab al-Sawm.