Shaykh al-Islām was asked about zakāt al-fitr:

“Must it be distributed among all eight categories of recipients, or is giving it to one person sufficient? What are the scholars’ views on this?”

He replied:

“All praise is due to Allah. This subject involves two fundamental issues.

The first concerns zakāt on wealth, such as livestock, money, trade goods and agricultural produce subject to zakāt. Scholars hold two views on this.

The first view is that everyone paying zakāt must distribute it among all the categories whose members can be reached, giving to three people from each category. This is the well-known position of the school of al-Shāfiʿī, and it is also one view reported from Imam Ahmad.

The second view is that the obligation is simply not to distribute it outside the eight categories, not to give anyone more than suffices for their needs, and not to show favoritism by giving to one person while passing over