Is it a condition for paying zakat al-fitr that it be given to a Muslim?

Eid Abbasi : It is presumed that they must be Muslims?

The Shaykh : Zakat al-fitr is like an obligatory duty among the obligatory duties; it must be given to the poor Muslim. This is the opinion of the majority of scholars. There are a few individual scholars who permitted giving it also to the dhimmi (a non-Muslim under Muslim protection). They treated this obligatory charity in the same way they treat voluntary charity; voluntary charity is permissible to give to a dhimmi. And of course, you know what a dhimmi is. Today they call it by a name other than its proper name; they call it "citizen." This is part of the changes that have occurred in Islamic custom due to their gradual distance from Islamic life. The atmosphere we live in, which is supposedly an Islamic atmosphere, no longer accepts the term "dhimmi." Because this requires a ruler who governs by a system, and part of that system is taking the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) from the People of the Dhimma. Unfortunately, this no longer has any effect. Consequently, one of the effects of that was the disappearance of this name. And so, we live today in a time when concepts are changing gradually, just as they did in what they call the fine arts, where they introduced the forbidden and the prohibited sins.