To whom is it prescribed to pay zakat al-fitr? And who are its recipients?

Eid Abbasi : To whom is it prescribed to pay zakat al-fitr? And who are its recipients?

The Shaykh : This is, in reality, one of the issues for which there is no explicit evidence; therefore, the scholars differed greatly on it. Some hold that one may pay the zakat from one's own wealth and receive it from another, and this is the position of al-Shafi'i and others; they pay the zakat from their own wealth and accept it from another, because al-Shafi'i and others do not require the one paying the fitr charity on his own behalf to be wealthy, unlike Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), who requires that one possess the nisab for it to be obligatory upon him in their terminology. That is, today, one must own one thousand six hundred Syrian pounds or close to two thousand. So they differed from here because there is no explicit text. And what I see is that this matter—namely, the command to pay the charity—is like all the commands of the Shari'ah, falling under the rule: "Fear Allah as much as you are able," and falling under the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him): . So if a man is poor, what does poor mean? In the sense of the zakat of the Sunnah, meaning he does not reach the nisab, but he has five hundred notes, good and blessing. Five hundred notes, if ten pounds come out of them, what is the value? Ten sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg), do you see? His economic life will not be ruined, especially on the day of Eid. But if a person has nothing but the ten pounds and he spends them as charity, he will be left with an empty purse. Even those who did not require the nisab, as Abu Hanifa did, or the ability, as others see; these people say he pays the charity, the charity that is obligatory upon him, and accepts it from another party.
And I repeat and say: Fear Allah as much as you are able. The one who pays the fitr charity is the one who is able, and every person is an accountant of himself. So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) knows from every person whether he is able to pay the charity or not able. So the one who is able must pay it, even if he does not own the nisab; because this condition did not come in the Book or the Sunnah, but rather it is an ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) of Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him).