Does the weight of the sa' differ between rice and sugar?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner says: You mentioned, may Allah grant you success, in the book *Majalis Ramadan* that the sa' in zakat al-fitr is two kilograms and forty grams. This was a great relief for us, a great relief for many people in our region. They say that the sa' of rice differs from the sa' of sugar, and likewise from flour, and likewise from wheat. What is your opinion, Honorable Shaykh? And how do we respond to them?
The Shaykh : We measured it at two kilograms and forty grams using good, dense wheat, not for everything. So whoever understood that this weight applies to everything has erred. Good, dense wheat—good, dense wheat means good, dense wheat. Is wheat known or not? What is it?
Wheat. So if you take a container of good wheat and weigh it, and if it is full, it weighs two kilograms and forty grams, net, without the container, then that is the net weight. Take this container with you and measure with it everything: dates, rice, or anything else. If the item is light, it will be less than this weight.
Is that not so? If the item is light, the sa' will be less than this weight because the volume of a light item is larger. And if it is heavy, the weight will be more, and it must be more than two kilograms. For example, the weight of this lead, and you have a bale of cotton the size of this, the size of the belt, perhaps this one is heavier than it. So volume is not bound to weight; weight is one thing and quality is another. And we measured this using good, dense wheat. The method of doing so, as the scholars said, is to take a container that holds this weight of wheat, then measure with it whatever else.
Yes, indeed. And we measured this based on following what the scholars said about the weight of the Prophetic sa'. The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, stated that measures were transferred to weight because it is more precise, as the weighed item varies.
Therefore, it was transferred to weight, and this is correct; weight is better. But what is considered in the weight: everything, or good, dense wheat? The latter. So the questioner’s mention of dates and sugar is correct, but it is not as he understood, that every two kilograms and forty grams of any food is a sa'. No, it may be less than a sa' or more than a sa'. So what is considered is good, dense wheat, meaning the good, heavy kind.
The Shaykh : We measured it at two kilograms and forty grams using good, dense wheat, not for everything. So whoever understood that this weight applies to everything has erred. Good, dense wheat—good, dense wheat means good, dense wheat. Is wheat known or not? What is it?
Wheat. So if you take a container of good wheat and weigh it, and if it is full, it weighs two kilograms and forty grams, net, without the container, then that is the net weight. Take this container with you and measure with it everything: dates, rice, or anything else. If the item is light, it will be less than this weight.
Is that not so? If the item is light, the sa' will be less than this weight because the volume of a light item is larger. And if it is heavy, the weight will be more, and it must be more than two kilograms. For example, the weight of this lead, and you have a bale of cotton the size of this, the size of the belt, perhaps this one is heavier than it. So volume is not bound to weight; weight is one thing and quality is another. And we measured this using good, dense wheat. The method of doing so, as the scholars said, is to take a container that holds this weight of wheat, then measure with it whatever else.
Yes, indeed. And we measured this based on following what the scholars said about the weight of the Prophetic sa'. The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, stated that measures were transferred to weight because it is more precise, as the weighed item varies.
Therefore, it was transferred to weight, and this is correct; weight is better. But what is considered in the weight: everything, or good, dense wheat? The latter. So the questioner’s mention of dates and sugar is correct, but it is not as he understood, that every two kilograms and forty grams of any food is a sa'. No, it may be less than a sa' or more than a sa'. So what is considered is good, dense wheat, meaning the good, heavy kind.
Source
اللقاءات الرمضانية لعام 1415هـ - 2 — binothaimeen.net (36:49)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.