al-Zubayr, who related: “During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr would pay, on behalf of everyone in her household—both the free and the enslaved—two mudd of wheat or one ṣāʿ of dates, measuring with the mudd or ṣāʿ they themselves used for food.”

Al-Ṭaḥāwī recorded this report—with this exact wording—as did Ibn Abī Shaybah and Aḥmad; its chain is sound according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

There are additional reports on the subject—some mursal, others musnad—each reinforcing the other, exactly as Ibn al-Qayyim observed in Zād al-Maʿād, where he collected them; whoever wishes may consult them. I have also documented them in al-Taʿlīqāt al-Jiyād.

Hence it is established that the obligatory amount of wheat in Zakāt al-Fiṭr is half a ṣāʿ. This is the position chosen by Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, as noted in al-Ikhtiyārāt, p. 60, and it is the view toward which Ibn al-Qayyim leaned, as mentioned earlier. It is, Allah willing, the correct opinion.

Under the heading “Its Disbursement,” the author writes: “Zakāt al-Fiṭr is distributed just like ordinary zakāt; that is, it is divided among the eight categories named in the verse, ‘Indeed, charity is only for the poor…’ 1”

I reply: The applied Sunnah contains nothing to support such distribution. On the contrary, the Prophet’s words in the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās—“… and as food for the poor”—limit it to the needy alone. The verse cited pertains to monetary zakāt, not to Zakāt al-Fiṭr, as is clear from the preceding verse: “Among them are those who criticize you concerning the charities: if they are given a share of them they are satisfied….” This, too, is the view selected by Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, who issued a valuable fatwa on the matter (Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, 2/81-84), and he expressed the same opinion.