Paying Sadaqat al-Fitr in Cash: Permissibility and the Preferred Method
📚 Source: Fatawa ʿIlmiyyah – Tawdih al-Ahkam, Vol. 2, p. 164
Question
Is it permissible to pay Sadaqat al-Fitr in cash instead of food items? Please explain in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Answer
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd!
Opinion Permitting Payment in Cash
❖ It is reported from Caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz (RH) and al-Hasan al-Basri (RH) that they considered it permissible to pay Sadaqat al-Fitr in cash instead of food items.
(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 3/174, Hadith 10364)
View of the Companions (RA)
❖ There is no explicit, authentic report from any Companion that they themselves paid Sadaqat al-Fitr in cash or permitted it.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s Opinion
In Masa’il ʿAbdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal (p. 809) it is recorded:
“I heard my father (Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal) say that giving the value (in money) for Sadaqat al-Fitr was disliked. He said: I fear that if someone gives its price, his Sadaqat al-Fitr may not even be valid.”
When Imam Ahmad was told that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz used to accept the value in Sadaqat al-Fitr, he replied:
“They abandon the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and say: ‘So-and-so says this’?”
(Al-Sunan wal-Mubtadaʿat, p. 206; al-Mughni by Ibn Qudamah, 3/65)
Stronger (Preferred) View
❖ Therefore, the stronger and preferable opinion is to pay Sadaqat al-Fitr in food items such as wheat, flour, dates, etc.
❖ This was also the view of Imam Malik (RH) and Imam al-Shafiʿi (RH).
[Shahadat Magazine, January 2001]
Additional Notes
❖ Caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz wrote to ʿAdi in Basrah:
“Take half a dirham from each person.”
(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 3/74, Hadith 10358 – Authentic chain)
❖ Qurrah ibn Khalid al-Sadusi said:
“We received a written instruction from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz that for Sadaqat al-Fitr, take either half a saʿ or its value, half a dirham, from each person.”
(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Hadith 10369 – Authentic chain)
Conclusion
These reports show that giving Sadaqat al-Fitr in cash is permissible. However, the better and more virtuous method is to pay it in the form of food items such as wheat, flour, or dates, following the practice established in the Sunnah.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
