Is it permissible to spend the remaining funds of Zakat al-Fitr on the interests of the mosque?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. And may He make us among those who listen to the statement and then follow the best of it. The questioner says: I am the imam of a mosque, and I collect money from the worshippers to buy zakat al-fitr. I buy the best types of rice and distribute it to those who are entitled to it, and a sum of money remains with me from the money of these zakahs. Is it permissible for me to spend it for the benefit of the mosque?

The Shaykh : First, may Allah bless you. Laziness has crept into you, even in the Shari'ah, in the legislations of Islam. One of us gives the mosque imam, or anyone else, or other organizations, one hundred riyals or ten riyals, or whatever they agree on, and says, "Pay my Zakat al-Fitr."
This is undoubtedly a form of laziness. Why does he do it? To be relieved of buying it, appointing an agent, and distributing it. Yet if he buys it, appoints an agent, and distributes it himself, he earns reward for every action he performs with it. Then he is reassured that it reaches its rightful recipient at the proper time. The agent he appoints, no matter how trustworthy, is not like what a person does himself, is it not so in a group?
Why do we go and give the mosque imam or charitable organizations money for the Sadaqah al-Fitr? Why do we not buy it ourselves from the market and take it ourselves to its rightful recipient? That is better, superior, more purifying for the conscience, and more reassuring.
As for this matter that has occurred, where the mosque imam or others collect money and then buy with it, he may buy poor quality, or good quality, or something in between. He may deliver it to its owner at the proper time, or before the time, or after the time, not out of negligence on his part but out of inability. If, for example, two hundred Fitr zakahs are gathered at the mosque imam's, when will he distribute them? Between the Fajr prayer and the Eid prayer? That is the best time.
Do not be lazy, O our brothers. Seek help from Allah. Pay your Zakat al-Fitr yourselves. Everyone knows from his neighbors, or from others, who is poor. Prepare it before the time of Eid comes and give it to him. Look at the problem now; giving the imams money to buy Zakat al-Fitr has caused a problem. This man has money available, and now he wants to pay the Sadaqah al-Fitr that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made obligatory as a purification for the fasting person from idle talk and obscenity, and as food for the poor. Now he asks, "Should I put it in the mosque's interests?" Because he has money available, what should he do with it?
Pay attention to this, O brothers. Leave laziness. Pay the zakah with your own hands; you will be rewarded for buying it, appointing an agent, and taking it to the poor person. A person finds the pleasure of obedience in doing it himself. It is not Sadaqah al-Fitr, nor any other zakah, a burden that a person wants to get rid of by any means. It is an act of worship; the effort in it is worship. It is an act of worship that a person should verify himself where it was placed?
Was it in its proper place or not? When was it paid? Was it in the best time, or the lesser time? Or in a time when it is not valid? I hope my Muslim brothers will not be lazy, nor neglect this charity that Ibn 'Umar called an obligation. He said, "The Messenger of Allah made it obligatory." Do not be careless. This is not collecting charities or donations to build a mosque. This is a charity made obligatory upon you, O fasting person. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made it obligatory as a purification for the fasting person from idle talk and obscenity, and as reassurance for the poor. As for the answer to the question, it is not permissible to spend the surplus of the money that was given to buy Zakat al-Fitr on the interests of the mosque. It must be returned to the owners from whom it was taken. He will record it in a notebook, for example, "I received ten riyals from so-and-so, I received ten riyals from so-and-so," and so on, and he will pay it to them. If he pays it to them, they are free to do with it as they wish. The problem, O my brothers, is truly a problem from the scholarly perspective. I am concerned for you from the scholarly perspective, because this surplus is charity from whom? Money from whom? I ask you, money from whom? Money from Zayd, or 'Amr, or Khalid? We do not know. Do we start with the first and say the later ones' money remained?
Or what? This is one of the defects in giving money to the mosque imam or others to buy charity in the Qur'an. I repeat, I hope my brothers will seek reward, and pay their Zakat al-Fitr themselves.
Now, if someone says, "I am now in Makkah, coming for 'Umrah, and Zakat al-Fitr is obligatory upon me in Makkah because I am in Makkah, and Zakat al-Fitr is obligatory upon a person in the country where he encounters the Eid, and I do not know the poor." The answer is: In Makkah, there are many poor people. A person finds them in the streets. If he sees a woman who appears poor and has a child with her, he can give her the zakah, and his conscience will be clear. As long as she appears poor and he does not know that she is wealthy, he gives it to her, and it suffices for him.
So activating Zakat al-Fitr in Makkah and similar large cities where the poor are known is very easy. But suppose he is in a country where he does not know a poor person, then we say, "Praise be to Allah, write to your family or call them on the phone to pay Zakat al-Fitr on your behalf in their country, and they will find the poor person."

The presenter : May Allah reward you,