All of the following information was translated originally from Durr-ul-mukhtâr, and from Ibni ’Âbidîn’s Radd-ul-muhtâr, which is a commentary to the former:
By the first light of the morning of the first day of ’Iyd of Ramadân, to give the Fitra becomes wâjib for every free Muslim who has property or money as much as the amount of nisâb in addition to his indispensable belongings and debts. It does not become wâjib before or after that time. The property that is to be included in the calculation of nisâb for fitra and Qurbân does not necessarily have to be intended for trade, nor does one have to have had it for one year. The condition is that one should have property as much as the amount of nisâb by the time morning prayer becomes performable on the first day of ’Iyd. Giving the fitra is not wâjib for a person who receives the amount of nisâb or who is born, or becomes a Muslim after that moment. It is necessary also for the safarî Muslim to give the fitra. It is also permissible to give it during Ramadân-i-sherîf, before Ramadân, or after the ’Iyd. In fact, if a person died before giving the fitra, zakât, kaffârat, or something he had vowed, and if he did not will it in his last request that it must be given, it is permissible for one of his inheritors to give it to the poor out of his own property, [not out of the dead person’s property.] But the inheritor does not have to give it. If he willed that it must be given, it is necessary to give it out of a third of the property he has left behind. His will is not executed if he has not left property. There will be more blessings if the fitra is given before the ’Iyd prayer. It cannot be given before Ramadân in the Shâfi’î Madhhab and before ’Iyd in the Madhâhib of Mâlikî and Hanbalî. As one person’s fitra can be given to one or more poor people, so one poor person can be given the fitras of several people. If a small child or an insane person has property, his fitra is also given out of his property. If their guardian does not give it, the child gives his past fitra when he grows up and the insane person gives his when he recovers. If a child below the age of puberty does not have property, its father gives its fitra together with his own fitra. That is, he gives it if he is rich. He does not have to give the fitra for his wife or older children. But he attains blessings if he gives it. It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtâr and in Radd-ul-muhtâr: “If a person gives the fitra for someone else out of his own property, it becomes acceptable if the latter commanded it in advance. If he
did not give it with the latter’s command, it does not become acceptable even if he consents afterwards. If he gave it out of the latter’s property, it becomes acceptable when the latter gives the consent (afterwards). A man can give the fitras of the people he is supporting in his home without their advice. If you command your wife [or someone else] to give your fitra, too, and if she (or he) mixes her (or his) wheat with your wheat without your permission and gives the mixture to the poor, she (or he) will have given only her (or his) fitra. For, according to Imâm-i-a’zam she (or he) has used the wheat by mixing the two amounts of wheat with each other, whereby the wheat has become her (or his) property. But it does not become her (or his) property according to the two imâms. If she (or he) has mixed them with your permission, your fitra also has been given according to Imâm-i-a’zam, too ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’. If the act were done the other way round, the wife’s fitra would have been given, too. For, it is permissible for the husband to give the wife’s fitra as a kindness out of his own property without her permission. He can either mix the fitras of his wife and other household and give them without their permission, or weigh the wheat or gold equal to their total at once and give it to one or more poor people. But it is circumspect to prepare them separately and then mix them or give them separately.” If one loses one’s property after having had the amount of nisâb, that is, after fitra and Qurbân having become wâjib and hajj having become fard, one is not absolved from them. But zakât and ’ushr are forgiven since the property has gone out of one’s possession. But these are not forgiven, either, if one purposely disposes of it. He who has the nisâb of fitra and Qurbân is called rich. It is wâjib for him to give fitra. And if he is mukallaf, which means discreet, pubert and settled (not safarî), it is also wâjib for him to perform the Qurbân only for himself. It is harâm for him to receive zakât, and wâjib to support his poor mahram female relatives and his poor male relatives who cannot work. Basic needs include a house, a month’s food, three suits each year, underwears, utensils and gadgets used in the house, servants, means of transportation, books on one’s profession, whatever their value, and one’s debts. They do not have to exist. If they exist they are not included in the calculation of nisâb for zakât, fitra, and Qurbân. Possessions that are not intended for trade and are more than one’s need, one’s houses rented out, ornamental things in one’s house, carpets that are not laid on the floor, spare furniture
that is not used, and tools of art and trade are not considered as necessary property in this respect. They are included in the calculation of nisâb for fitra and Qurbân. If the house one is living in is big, it is sahîh that the spare rooms that one does not use are not included in the nisâb. See the beginning of chapter 4, which is about Performing the Qurbân. For fitra, half a sâ’ of wheat or wheat flour is given. Or one sâ’ of barley or dates or raisins is given. In the Hanafî Madhhab, at times when wheat, barley and flour are abundant it is better to give their equivalents in gold and silver. During times of scarcity it yields more thawâb to give these things themselves. In the Hanafî Madhhab sâ’ is (the volume of) a container with the capacity of one thousand and forty dirhams of millets or lentils. One sâ’ is four muds, that is, four menns. Mud and menn are equal and are two ritls. One ritl is a hundred and thirty dirham-i shar’î or 91 mithqâl, so one sâ’ is [728] mithqâls, or [1040] dirhams, of lentils. As is explained in the first chapter, one dirham-i-shar’î is 3.36 grams. Hence, one sâ’ is 3500 grams. Since barley is lighter than wheat and wheat is lighter than lentils, a container that is filled with one thousand and forty dirhams of barley is larger than one sâ.’ So it will be circumspect to give that much in lieu of one sâ.’ It will be circumspect to give 364 mithqâls, or five hundred and twenty [520] dirhams, which is seventeen hundred and fifty [1750] grams, of wheat instead of half a sâ.’ Thus a little more will have been given. For, half a sâ’ of wheat is lighter than 364 mithqâls, or five hundred and twenty dirhams. I, the faqîr -Hüseyn Hilmi Iş›k- experimented by using a balance and a cylindrical glass measuring jug, and determined that a hundred grams of lentils is a hundred and twenty cubic centimetres. Accordingly, one sâ’ is equal to four litres plus one-fifth litre [4.2 litres]. In the Madhâhib of Shâfi’î, Mâlikî and Hanbalî, to give the fitra is fard for a person who has a day’s food, and of whether wheat or barley it is always necessary to give one sâ.’ In the Shâfi’î Madhhab one sâ’ is one-third of a menn less than three menns. One menn is two ritl-i-Irâqî, or 260 dirhams. Then, one sâ’ is six hundred and ninety-four [694] dirhams, which is written in al Anwâr. In other words, it is one thousand, six hundred and eighty [1680] grams. For, in the Shafi’î Madhhab a dirham is 2.42 grams. One mud is two-third a menn, which is equal two 173 dirhams plus a third dirham. Then, one sâ’ is four muds. In the Shâfi’î Madhhab it is not permissible to give gold or silver equivalent of wheat or barley. It is written in Şemseddîn Remlî’s fatwâ that it is permissible to
imitate the Hanafî Madhhab and give the wheat’s equivalent in silver instead of the wheat itself. The Madhâhib of Mâlikî and Hanbalî are the same as the Shâfi’î Madhhab in this respect, and so one sâ’ is five ritls plus one-third a ritl, that is, 694 dirham-ishar’î, or 1680 grams. These amounts are clearly stated in the books Kimyâ-yi-se’âdet and Manâhij-al ibâd ilel meâd. The Turkish translation of the Arabic lexical book Kâmûs wa Okyânûs states about the entry Sâ’: “Sâ’ is a measure of capacity that contains four muds of lentils. One mud, an amount of two handfuls, is equal to two ritls in the Hanafî Madhhab. Accordingly, one sâ’ is eight ritls. In the Shâfi’î Madhhab one mud is one plus one-third ritls, and so one sâ’ is five plus one-third ritls in that Madhhab.” And it states about the entry Menn: “Menn, which means batmann, is two ritls in every Madhhab.” (Even) if a person does not fast because of a good excuse, he (still) has to give the sadaqa fitr. Because the sadaqa fitr is small, it is given in silver. It is written in the book Jawhara: “When giving the sadaqa fitr, instead of wheat or barley, its value can be given in gold or silver, in fulûs, that is, metal coins [and paper bills], or in any other kind of property.” And it is written in Durr-ul-mukhtâr: “Its value is given in gold and silver.” To explain these statements, Ibni ’Âbidîn says: “The book Jawhara says that fulûs and urûz, that is, kinds of property, can be given, yet when ‘value’ is said gold and silver are usually meant. Also Zeyla’î ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ states that it is better to give its value in gold or silver.” Then, one should follow the words of the majority and give the fitra in gold or silver. Silver money is not in use now. And the value of paper money has been made dependent upon that of gold. Therefore, the value of silver in terms of the currency is below its value dictated in the rules of Islam. It is given with its value according to the currency so that it will be to the advantage of the poor. In case it is difficult to give them, one should give half a sâ’ [1750 grams] of wheat or flour instead of giving other property or paper money. One may also give paper money instead of gold by following the facility we have described in the first chapter. In the Madhâhib of Mâlikî and Hanbalî it is better to give dates, in the Shâfi’î, it is better to give wheat, and in the Hanafî it is better to give what is most valuable. If it is difficult also to give wheat or flour, one may give bread or corns of equal value. In giving bread and corns, not their weight but their cost or value is considered.
Endless Bliss Page (70_74)
