Ibn Daqiq al-ʿId said: The root meaning of faraḍ in Arabic is “to determine or apportion,” but in the technical usage of the Sacred Law it was transferred to signify “obligation,” and that legal sense is therefore preferable to the original linguistic one.
• Zakat al-Fitr: al-Nawawī noted that the expression is a later coinage, not pure Arabic, but rather a juristic convention—apparently derived from fitrah, meaning the human nature or person, i.e., “the alms due for one’s very being.” al-ʿAynī added that calling it an “Islamic term” would be more precise, for it was unknown before Islam: it is the very name placed upon it by the Lawgiver. It is also referred to as ṣadaqat al-Fitr and zakat al-Fitr; Ibn ʿAbbās called it “the alms of the fast,” while Abū Hurayrah called it “the alms of Ramadan.”
• One sāʿ: the prophetic sāʿ—about 3 kilograms—measured in sound, high-quality wheat.
• “Before the prayer”: meaning the Eid al-Fitr prayer.
• “Aghnūhum” (“make them self-sufficient”): here it means, “Give them what will suffice them and spare them from need on that day.” Sufficiency (ghinā) varies by context: in the chapter of zakat recipients it is whoever possesses a year’s provision; in zakat al-Fitr, whoever owns more than his day’s food; in the payment of zakat on wealth, whoever reaches the nisāb; and in maintenance laws, whoever can support those under his care.
• “From going around” (ʿan al-ṭawāf): ṭāfa, yaṭūfu, ṭawfan/ṭawāfan means to circle something; hence al-ṭawwāf, the person who goes about the people begging—that is what is meant here.
• “On this day”: the Day of Eid al-Fitr and the ensuing days of festivity.
• “Among the Muslims”: this circumstantial phrase qualifies “the slave” and all that is conjoined with it. al-Ṭībī explained, from the perspective of rhetoric, that the paired descriptions in the hadith are presented as opposites in order to convey complete inclusiveness, not to limit the ruling—so that the obligation issued by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ applies to every individual among the Muslims.