any other source on the Day of Eid an amount that exceeds the sustenance of himself and his dependents for a day and a night, it is recommended that he give it as zakāt al-Fiṭr; nevertheless, it is not binding upon him, for his solvency arose only after the time when the obligation had already fallen due.

Whoever neglects zakāt al-Fiṭr when it is obligatory upon him remains indebted for it and must pay it whenever he can. A man gives it for himself as well as for everyone whose maintenance the Sacred Law obliges him to provide, so long as they are Muslims. Our words “whom he is obliged to support” refer to a legal requirement established by the Sharīʿah, not to personal undertakings such as a wage-earner or the like.

If a woman’s status or social standing requires that she be supplied with two servants or more, the husband must pay zakāt al-Fiṭr for every such servant whose upkeep he owes. If, however, the wife has not yet been brought to the marital home, the husband is not obliged to pay zakāt al-Fiṭr on her behalf so long as he has not summoned her to cohabit. Likewise, if parents or children are poor, zakāt al-Fiṭr on their behalf is incumbent upon whichever parent or child is legally bound to maintain them.

The amount of zakāt al-Fiṭr is one sāʿ measured by the Prophet’s sāʿ—four mudds by his mudd—for every Muslim, young or old, free or enslaved; it is not due for a non-Muslim. Masters are responsible for paying it on behalf of their slaves.

Mālik held two opinions regarding its obligation upon the master of a mukātib (a slave under a contract of emancipation):

1. that it is obligatory;
2. that it is not obligatory.

The predominant view transmitted from him is that it is indeed obligatory for the mukātib, just as it is for other slaves, because the mukātib remains a slave so long as any portion of his contract price is unpaid. ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, on the other hand, would pay zakāt al-Fiṭr for his slaves but not for his mukātibs, and this accords with analogy, for the mukātib is financially independent and no maintenance is due for him