Chapter on Zakāt al-Fiṭr
Introduction
The verb faṭara originally means “to split open,” as in the saying, “faṭara nābu al-baʿīr”—the camel’s tooth splits the gum when it erupts. The same root appears in the Qur’ān: “When the sky is split open” (al-Infitār 82:1). By analogy, the fasting person “splits” his fast by eating.
Zakāt al-Fiṭr is the obligatory charity whose occasion is the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan; it is called fiṭr-alms because the effect (the alms) is named after its cause (the breaking of the fast).
Its legitimacy is established by the Qur’ān, the Sunnah, and the unanimous agreement of the Muslims. Allah the Exalted says: “He has certainly succeeded who purifies himself, remembers the Name of his Lord, and then prays” (al-Aʿlā 87:14-15).
All the hadiths on this subject are authentic. The Muslims unanimously agree upon its obligation, and the basis for that consensus is the report in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from Ibn ʿUmar: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ made Zakāt al-Fiṭr obligatory in Ramadan.”
The majority of scholars, early and later, explain that “made obligatory” (farada) here means “imposed” and “enjoined.”
Zakāt al-Fiṭr was prescribed in the same year that the fasting of Ramadan was prescribed—the second year after the Hijrah. The wisdom behind it is stated in Sunan Abū Dāwūd (1609) on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prescribed Zakāt al-Fiṭr as a purification for the fasting person from idle talk and obscenity, and as nourishment for the poor.” Thus it patches the flaws that may have marred the fast. The same principle applies to every act of worship that is linked to another act: the latter completes and perfects whatever the former lacks.
Many other wisdoms and secrets further clarify its purpose. Some of these relate to the fasting people themselves, purifying them of whatever blemish they may have incurred