The Ruling on Delaying Zakat al-Fitr
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : No, this is not said except with a text.
The questioner : Except with light. Shaykh, regarding the plate, is it better for you to take from the plate itself? I mean, regarding the zakah of the bank. Some of the brothers give us the zakah of their wealth. Yesterday, glory be to Allah, my wife drew my attention to something I had been preoccupied with in some of my affairs. So they will give it to me today, and I am able to delay it for two or three days, or a week, along with the zakat al-fitr, so that when we distribute the zakat al-fitr and some of the bread and meat that comes to us, we gather it all at once and present it to the poor. So my wife objected to me and said, "Why are you delaying it? The poor are in need of buying some clothes and some necessities." I told her, "By Allah, I liked her objection, but what concerns me now is the legal aspect. Do we have the leeway to delay it for this week so that it is combined with the other zakahs and some..."
The Shaykh : Regarding the education of a minor. His opinion and your husband's opinion.
The questioner : Yes. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Do you know? Some of the jurists prefer giving the zakat al-fitr in money so that the poor person can spend it on the occasion of the festival as he pleases. Our answer is well known, but here you have something. The first thing is that you are a trustee of this wealth. It does not have a limit like the zakat al-fitr; it is not permissible to hasten it. Rather, the default is to hasten it and not delay its payment.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : First, because of the verse: "And hasten to the forgiveness of your Lord." And second, "Deliver the trusts to those who are entitled to them," because the person who is a trustee does not know what may befall him. In addition to the observation you made.
The questioner : What?
The Shaykh : Therefore, it is not permissible to delay it until the zakat al-fitr.
The questioner : Yes, Shaykh, this applies to the well-known zakat al-fitr and also to the voluntary charities.
The Shaykh : You are speaking about the zakah and the charity. Do you mean the voluntary charity? Yes, yes. There is no doubt that the verse we mentioned includes the voluntary ones. Praise be to Allah. So that his face is not read.
The questioner : Except with light. Shaykh, regarding the plate, is it better for you to take from the plate itself? I mean, regarding the zakah of the bank. Some of the brothers give us the zakah of their wealth. Yesterday, glory be to Allah, my wife drew my attention to something I had been preoccupied with in some of my affairs. So they will give it to me today, and I am able to delay it for two or three days, or a week, along with the zakat al-fitr, so that when we distribute the zakat al-fitr and some of the bread and meat that comes to us, we gather it all at once and present it to the poor. So my wife objected to me and said, "Why are you delaying it? The poor are in need of buying some clothes and some necessities." I told her, "By Allah, I liked her objection, but what concerns me now is the legal aspect. Do we have the leeway to delay it for this week so that it is combined with the other zakahs and some..."
The Shaykh : Regarding the education of a minor. His opinion and your husband's opinion.
The questioner : Yes. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Do you know? Some of the jurists prefer giving the zakat al-fitr in money so that the poor person can spend it on the occasion of the festival as he pleases. Our answer is well known, but here you have something. The first thing is that you are a trustee of this wealth. It does not have a limit like the zakat al-fitr; it is not permissible to hasten it. Rather, the default is to hasten it and not delay its payment.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : First, because of the verse: "And hasten to the forgiveness of your Lord." And second, "Deliver the trusts to those who are entitled to them," because the person who is a trustee does not know what may befall him. In addition to the observation you made.
The questioner : What?
The Shaykh : Therefore, it is not permissible to delay it until the zakat al-fitr.
The questioner : Yes, Shaykh, this applies to the well-known zakat al-fitr and also to the voluntary charities.
The Shaykh : You are speaking about the zakah and the charity. Do you mean the voluntary charity? Yes, yes. There is no doubt that the verse we mentioned includes the voluntary ones. Praise be to Allah. So that his face is not read.
Source
سلسلة الهدى والنور، المجلس 1341 — d3watuna.com (19:01)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.