Many people have become accustomed, when purchasing zakat al-fitr, to the fact that there are usually many poor people at the merchant who sells this zakat, so they pay it to them.

The questioner : The honorable Shaykh, many people have become accustomed, when purchasing zakat al-fitr, to the fact that there are usually many poor people at the merchant who sells this zakat, so they pay it to them. Then the merchant buys it back from the poor people present for half the price, and thus this zakat circulates between the merchant and the poor. However, there is also an observation, O Shaykh, that many of these people who buy it do not look for poor people, but rather restrict themselves to those who are at the merchant's shop. What is the ruling? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : What we see is that a person should, indeed, it is obligatory for him, to be careful in giving charity, whether it is zakat al-fitr or the obligatory charity of wealth. He must be careful as much as possible, because, unfortunately, in this time, many people have come to claim that they are entitled to zakat when they are not entitled to it. If the person who bought zakat al-fitr from the shop took it to the homes of the poor people he knows, that would be better for him. If he does this, then the cycle mentioned by the questioner will not occur. However, if he is a stranger in Makkah and does not know any poor person, there is no blame on him for giving it to those at the shop, because their apparent condition is need. But the shop owner should not exploit the need of these people by buying back from them what he sold for ten for five in the same place. Rather, if he wishes, he should lower the price by a reasonable amount. As for lowering it to half the price or something similar, that is something that should not be done.