The Time for Paying Zakat al-Fitr and the Ruling on Paying It After the Eid Prayer

The Shaykh : Fourth: When is this zakat paid? It is paid on the morning of the Day of Eid, before the prayer; this is the best. If one pays it a day or two before the Eid, there is no blame on him, because the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to do that. Accordingly, a person pays it on the twenty-ninth day and on the thirtieth day, and he does not pay it on the twenty-eighth day, because the month might be completed. If the month is completed, then paying it on the twenty-eighth day is how many days before the Eid? Three days. And a person is commanded to be cautious, so he pays it on the twenty-ninth and the thirtieth. It is not permissible to delay it beyond the Eid prayer. If he delays it, he has sinned, and what he pays becomes a voluntary charity from among the charities, based on the hadith of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father): Unless there is an excuse, such as a person not knowing about the Eid until a late time when he cannot perform it before the prayer, or if he was relying on a person to pay it on his behalf, but when the Eid ended and he asked him, he said, "I did not pay it on your behalf," or if he placed it in a place and told his family to pay it, but they forgot to pay it. The point is that if he delays paying it beyond the Eid prayer for an excuse, then there is nothing wrong with that. Or if the Eid passes while he is traveling in the desert and has no one to pay it to, and he delays it until he arrives in the town, then all of that is an excuse that does not prevent the acceptance of zakat al-fitr.