He further remarked, “This follows the same analogy that Ahmad adopted with regard to expiations.” I would add: the more cautious view is the first position.

6- The optimal time to distribute it is at dawn on the Day of ʿEid, before the prayer begins. This is the ruling of the jurists of all four schools. If it is given after the prayer, then—according to the Hanbalis—it is merely disliked on the Day of ʿEid but becomes prohibited thereafter, a judgment shared by the majority of scholars in the other schools. Ibn Ḥazm, however, considers any delay past the prayer forbidden, citing al-Bukhārī’s narration: “He commanded that it be paid before the people set out for the prayer.” Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah likewise report: “Whoever pays it before the prayer, it is accepted zakat; whoever pays it after the prayer, it is but a charity among other charities.” In reality, Abū Muḥammad’s position is the strongest, for it accords best with the evidence.

7- May it be offered earlier than the ʿEid prayer?
• Abū Ḥanīfah permitted advancing it by one or two lunar years, by analogy with zakat on wealth.
• Al-Shāfiʿī allowed payment from the first day of Ramadan.
• Mālik held that it is never valid to advance it, likening it to praying before its appointed time.
• The Hanbalis ruled that it may be given one or two days before ʿEid, citing al-Bukhārī’s report: “They—meaning the Companions—used to hand it over a day or two before al-Fiṭr.” The rationale is that the poor cannot be truly provided for on that day unless the charity reaches them a day or two in advance, enabling them to prepare for ʿEid; moreover, if it is postponed until just before the prayer, the payer may not find a deserving recipient and so miss the prescribed time.

For these sound considerations, our teacher, the eminent scholar ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Nāṣir al-Saʿdī (may Allah have mercy on him), preferred that it be paid one or two days beforehand.