by the Quran or by the Sunnah. Some held that it is an obligation established by the Quran, included in the zakat that Allah coupled with prayer in His clear revelation, saying:

“Establish prayer and give zakat.” [al-Baqara: 43]

This view was reported from Mālik. Its evidence is the report that “the Prophet ﷺ made zakat al-fitr for Ramadan obligatory upon the people, for every free person or slave, male or female, among the Muslims, and collected it from them.” His words and actions thus provided the details left unspecified in Allah’s statement:

“Take charity from their wealth to purify and cleanse them thereby, and pray for them.” [al-Tawba: 103]

It is also reported that ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz said concerning Allah’s words, “Successful indeed is the one who purifies himself” [al-A‘lā: 14], “and remembers the name of his Lord and prays” [al-A‘lā: 15], that they refer to zakat al-fitr, followed by going out in the morning to the prayer ground.

Others held that it is an obligation established by the Sunnah, prescribed by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—that is, he made it obligatory. It is not valid to interpret “prescribed it” as “specified its amount,” because the authentic hadith narrated by Ibn ‘Umar states: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prescribed zakat al-fitr for Ramadan as a duty upon the people: one sā‘ of dates or one sā‘ of barley.”

The preposition ‘alā (“upon”) denotes obligation and binding duty. It cannot mean ‘an (“on behalf of”) here, because those obliged to pay are distinct from those on whose behalf payment is obligatory. Both are mentioned in the hadith [where he said, concerning those on whose behalf payment is obligatory, “upon every free person or slave, male or female, among the Muslims”—meaning, “on behalf of every free person or slave, male or female, among the Muslims”]. This indicates that whatever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made obligatory may be termed a prescribed obligation.

The reason he ﷺ made it obligatory was the influx of groups who came to him ﷺ in Medina during the period of the emigration. They would stay in the mosque and take shelter there. When the time came to break the fast, the settled residents would return to the food their families had prepared for them, while those staying in the mosque would return to find nothing prepared for them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore made zakat al-fitr obligatory and ordered that it be collected in the mosque. Most of what people contributed was dates, since these were their staple food. When those staying there returned to the mosque, they would sit around the food and eat from it. Whatever remained after their needs had been met, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ distributed among the poor and needy, saying: “Spare them the need to go about begging on this day.” This view was reported from Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him.