Q740 :Is it permissible to collect zakatul-fitr and
pool it together so that the money collected may be used for the
purpose of financing the marriage of poor Muslim girls in our
locality?
A740 : Zakatul-fitr is a charitable donation which
is payable as a duty by every Muslim who has any amount of money over
and above what he needs for the food which he and his family eat on the
last day of Ramadhan. If he has any amount in excess of that, then it
is obligatory for him to pay zakatul-fitr which is a small amount of
money estimated normally by a certain measure of the staple diet of the
city or area in which he lives. Thus it maybe measured by flour,
barley, corn, dates, rice, raisin, etc. It may be paid in cash if such
produce is plentiful and widely available and if cash is more
beneficial to the recipients, as it is nowadays in most Muslim
countries. Every head of a Muslim family is required to pay
zakatul-fitr for himself and his dependents including his wife and
children whom he supports and also for either or both of his parents
who are his dependents. It is also payable on behalf of every child,
even one who is born a few minutes before the Eid prayer on the first
day of the month of Shawwal. Some scholars are also of the opinion that
it is payable for an unborn baby as long as the pregnancy is confirmed.
The purpose of zakatul-fitr is to make the poor feel rich or at least
self sufficient on the day of Eid which is a joyous occasion succeeding
the month of fasting. The Prophet has impressed on his followers that
they should make the poor feel in need of nothing on that day.
Zakatul-fitr is payable a few days before the end of Ramadhan, with
some scholars arguing that it may be paid at any time during Ramadhan,
while others insist that it is payable on the last day. In the light
of the foregoing, you can see that the purpose of zakatul-fitr is
different from that of getting Muslim girls married. This is a worthy
cause, no doubt, since it enables the poor girls to have homes and
families of their own. But, if you collect zakatul-fitr and establish a
fund for the marriage of poor Muslim girls, you are actually depriving
the netmunity of achieving a goal for which zakatul-fitr has been made
a duty, namely, that the poor should not feel in need on the day of
Eid. Moreover, Islamic marriage is not costly for the girls or her
family. From the Islamic view-point, it is the bridegroom who must pay
a dower to his wife, so that the marriage can go through. Moreover, he
has to provide her with a home and he must look after her. Social
traditions in some parts of the Muslim world have, however, made
marriage a difficult task for either of the two parties or both. Islam
is not responsible for that. The netmunity should change its traditions
in order to bring them in line with Islamic teachings. We should not
make Islamic legislation subservient to social traditions. If it is the
tradition in a certain Muslim society that a girl should give her
husband some articles of gold on her marriage, we should make it clear
to that netmunity that this is not part of an Islamic marriage. It is a
social tradition, which has been most probably picked up from a
non-Muslim netmunity. We should try to change this tradition, not to
institutionalize it by spending zakatul-fitr for a purpose which is not
its own. Zakatul-fitr is payable to the poor in the Muslim netmunity.
It is indeed the purpose of all zakah to help the poor overnete the
burden of poverty. The Prophet instructed his governor of Yemen that
zakah should be taken “from the rich among them and paid to the poor.”
This applies more strongly to zakatul-fitr which must be paid to poor
Muslim people. Having said that I should add that when the Muslim
netmunity is affluent and poverty is virtually non-existent in it,
zakah maybe paid to the poor among the Christians and the Jews. At the
time of Umar ibn Abdelaziz, one of his governors wrote him that he
could not find poor people to whom he should give zakah. Umar
instructed him to pay it to poor Christians and Jews. When the
governor said that he could not find any, Umar suggested that he should
buy Muslim slaves and set them free. If we have such a situation when
the Muslim netmunity is so affluent that there are no poor in its
ranks, then we consider paying zakatul-fitr to non-Muslims.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )