Zakāt al-Fiṭr is a charity due at the close of Ramaḍān — a purification for the fasting person from idle talk, and food for the needy so they too can rejoice on Eid. It is obligatory on every Muslim with a surplus beyond his day’s needs.
The essentials
- • Amount: one ṣāʿ (~2.5–3 kg) of the local staple food — dates, barley, wheat, rice, etc.
- • Who: paid by each person, and by the head of a household on behalf of dependents.
- • When: due at the end of Ramaḍān; paid before the Eid prayer (may be given a day or two earlier).
- • If paid after the Eid prayer without excuse, it counts as ordinary charity, not Zakāt al-Fiṭr.
Compare the schools
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Zakāt
May Zakāt al-Fiṭr be paid as cash value?
Hanafi: Yes — the value in money is permitted and often easier for the poor.
Other schools
Maliki: It is given as food (a ṣāʿ of the staple); paying the value is not the relied-upon way.
Shāfiʿī: It is given as food; paying the value is not permitted in the school’s relied view.
Hanbali: It is given as food; paying the value is not the relied-upon way.
Ikhrāj al-qīma fī zakāt al-fiṭr — al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Evidence
The Prophet ﷺ made Zakāt al-Fiṭr obligatory — a ṣāʿ of dates or barley — on every Muslim, and ordered it paid before the people go out to the Eid prayer.
Bukhārī 1503 / Muslim 984 ṣaḥīḥ
“…a purification for the fasting person from idle and obscene talk, and food for the needy.”
Abū Dāwūd 1609 ḥasan
Classical references
Hanafi: al-Hidāya · Radd al-Muḥtār
Maliki: al-Risāla · Mukhtaṣar Khalīl
Shāfiʿī: Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn
Hanbali: al-Mughnī · Zād al-Mustaqniʿ
Related lessons
Content is being reviewed for authenticity by a qualified scholar. Follow your local scholars for personal rulings.