the zakat had been taken from its owner, while Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, was merely entrusted with safeguarding it, not with disposing of it.

The jurists, may Allah have mercy on them, have mentioned that if a person offers another person’s sacrificial animal, it counts on behalf of its owner even if he did not grant permission.

Another example is that of a child whose father is required to pay his zakat al-fitr: if the child pays it for himself without his father’s permission, it is valid, because he is the one principally addressed by the obligation. Thus, when the principal person pays it, the obligation is waived from the one acting on his behalf.

His statement: “It becomes obligatory at sunset on the night of Eid al-Fitr.”

“It becomes obligatory at sunset on the night of Eid al-Fitr. Whoever becomes Muslim thereafter, acquires a slave, marries, or has a child born to him, is not liable for the relevant zakat al-fitr …”

“It becomes obligatory,” meaning: zakat al-fitr.

“At sunset”: the preposition denotes causation.

His statement, “at sunset on the night of Eid al-Fitr,” refers to the time when it becomes obligatory—that is, the time at which a person is addressed with the obligation to pay it is sunset on the night of Eid al-Fitr. The evidence is the hadith of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him and his father: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, made the charity of fitr from Ramadan obligatory.” (1) It is also called the charity of fitr, and is therefore connected to it; and the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan is realized at sunset on the night of Eid al-Fitr.

But how does one know that the night is the night of Eid al-Fitr?

The answer is that there are two ways to know that it is the night of Eid al-Fitr:

First: if we have completed thirty days of Ramadan, then sunset on the thirtieth day is certainly the beginning of the night of Eid al-Fitr.