What is the value of Zakat of
Al-Fitrah?
It is incumbent on the Moslem to
extract Zakat of Al-Fitrah from what is common to the people
about the meals of the cities, of cereals and other things. Zakat
Al-Fitrah may be extracted out of these commonest substances:
(barley, wheat, dates and raisin) or other items such as: rice
and corn provided that the amount of Zakat out of one of these
items must not been defective.
It is also possible to pay the
value of Zakat in cash out of what is common in public about the
price of each item separately as being sold in the town
market….and the amount which is obligatory to be extracted is
called "Saa" for each individual which is equal to about three
quarters of a kilo… and this amount is to be multiplied by three
so that Zakat Al-Fitrah will be 3 kilos per head.
Building on the foregoing, any
amount below that, will be insufficient even though the items are
of high quality with the value of "Saa" if compared with the bad
or ordinary quality. It is also inadequate too, if the "Saa" is
composed of two different items mixed together but the amount of
Zakat is accepted if pay is made of every different item – that
is: extracting for each individual of his family some different
item from the other.
When is Zakat Al-Fitrah a
must?
As most famous jurisprudents
emphasize that Al-Fitrah is to be prepared and collected on the
night of the Festival and said that delay of it is also
permissible until midday of the Festival to that who didn't
perform or catch up with the congregational prayer; they also
permitted delay of its payment for a reasonable purpose
especially in the case of having it isolated in an early
date.
Anyone who didn't pay Zakat or
didn't isolate it at those mentioned times and the sun swerved a
little to the sun-set side, so paying it has become mostly
binding and inevitable and that what he owes of (loan) has become
his own.
To whom is Zakat Al-Fitrah to be
paid?
The funds collected under the
title of Zakat Al-Fitrah are to be spent on the poor and the
needy bearing in mind the conditions which have already stated in
the topic of Zakat of Al-Fitrah and it is permissible to convey
or transfer the money to the Imam (P.B.U.H.) or his deputy-the
jurisprudent who contains the conditions required even though
there were one who is worthy of taking Zakat.
But, on the opinion of, the Higher Religious
Authority, his imminence Assayyid Ali Al-Husseini As-Sistani (May
Allah keep him safe and secure) they are not to be transferred to
any party other than the Imam or his deputy outside the country
even though there is one who is worthy of it. Besides, the
non-Hashimite cannot pay Zakat of Fitrah to the Hashimite one…but
it is legal for the Hashimite to pay the Zakat to others.
Sun -
22 Jamadilawal 1446H -
