The Ruling on Taking the Value of Zakat al-Fitr from People and Then Buying It for a Lower Price and Keeping the Difference - Ibn

Question : May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: Some people buy Zakat al-Fitr at an average price, then sell it to people at a higher price than what they paid, while taking responsibility for distributing it. That is, they take a sum of money from an individual on the condition that they buy the zakat for him and distribute it to those entitled to it. What is the ruling on this practice? Is it permissible to take a profit from it? And what is the ruling if the profit is for charitable works, such as selling the zakat for ten riyals, where the value of the rice, for example, is eight riyals, and two riyals go to the mosque?

Answer : The reality is that the question is long and not entirely clear, but in my opinion, there are among the people of good, among the youth and the imams of mosques, those who say to people: Give me ten riyals for the value of Zakat al-Fitr. They give them the money, then buy a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) for eight riyals. It is not bad or unacceptable; it is average. And he has two riyals left. He says: We will make these two riyals a charity in another category, or for repairing a mosque, or helping a student of knowledge, or something similar. Is this permissible?
The answer is that this is not permissible, and in reality, it is a betrayal. The one who does it is sinful, because those who gave ten riyals want the Zakat al-Fitr to be of good, high quality. How can he deceive them by buying something average that is sufficient, and take the two or three riyals, or more?
This is betrayal and deception. One cannot be sure that this man will not be tested one day to take the excess for himself. He thinks now that he is a reformer, but he is not a reformer.
And it is obligatory, O our brothers, that our worship of Allah be based on the Shari'ah, not on emotion and impulsiveness. This person says: I am doing good; I bought what is sufficient and by which the conscience is cleared, and the excess I keep for another need. We say: This is wrong. This is forbidden. So if any of our brothers does this, he must stop it. It is not permissible for him to act in this manner. If he takes it for himself, that is even more evil and more evil. If he takes the excess, the two riyals, for himself, that is even more evil and more evil.