Some of our scholars stated without qualification that it is a sunnah. They interpreted the report that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prescribed it as meaning that he determined its amount and appointed its time, since prescribing can mean determining an amount or appointing a time. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“Allah has prescribed for you the dissolution of your oaths.” [al-Tahrīm: 2]

That is, He has determined it. The evidence showing the weakness of this interpretation has already been presented. The denial that zakat al-fitr is obligatory is attributed only to Ibn ‘Ulayya and al-Asamm. If someone holds that it is a binding sunnah—one of those sunnahs whose observance is virtuous and whose neglect is sinful—then the disagreement is merely one of terminology, as we have explained.

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It is zakat on persons, additional to zakat on wealth. It is therefore obligatory upon rich and poor alike, provided a person has funds from which to pay it—even if all he has is what he himself receives as zakat al-fitr—so long as there is a surplus beyond his sustenance for that day. If he has nothing, it is recommended that he borrow and pay it. Another view holds that it is not obligatory upon anyone eligible to receive it. The first view is more evident, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Spare them the need to go about begging on this day.”

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The duty to pay it on another’s behalf follows the obligation to provide maintenance, whether the Muslim concerned is young or old, male or female, free or enslaved. Thus, a man pays zakat al-fitr on behalf of himself, his wife, his wife’s servant, and those of his children under his care, if they have no wealth of their own. He also pays it on behalf of his parents when he is obliged to maintain them; his slave; his slave woman who has borne him a child; his slave whose freedom is stipulated to take effect upon his death; and his slave contracted to purchase his freedom, since the latter remains a slave.

The slave contracted to purchase his freedom supports himself from his own property, just as a slave supports himself from his earnings. The master therefore pays zakat al-fitr on his behalf from the master’s own wealth, because he is, in reality, the one providing his maintenance. He cannot take it from the property of the slave contracted to purchase his freedom, because the manumission contract protects that property from the master’s claim.

There is disagreement concerning a slave whose services have been granted to someone else. One view holds that zakat al-fitr is payable by the beneficiary of those services, since he is responsible for the slave’s maintenance. Another holds that it is payable by the slave’s master, because the maintenance provided by the beneficiary is like rent paid for the slave’s services. This is therefore like the case of someone who hires out his slave in return for his maintenance: zakat is payable by the master, not the hirer.