Clothes As Fitrana (Sadqa-e-Fitr)
One form of zakah is the sadaqah of fitr. It is the food of a person that he consumes in a day and is obligatory on every person whether young or old , and is given at the end of Ramadan before the eid prayer is offered . As per a narrative of Ibn-e-Abbas (rta), the purpose of the Prophet (sws) in making this mandatory for every Muslim was to cleanse the fasts from the effects of lewd and nonsensical talk and to provide food to the poor on eid day. ( Source : https://sunnah.com/abudawud:1609 AND https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:1827 ) In the time of the Prophet (sws), it was generally given in the form of grain. Consequently, he had fixed its quantity at one saa which is equivalent to about 2.5 kg: فَرَضَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ زَكَاةَ الْفِطْرِ صَاعًا مِنْ تَمْرٍ أَوْ صَاعًا مِنْ شَعِيرٍ عَلَى الْعَبْدِ وَالْحُرِّ وَالذَّكَرِ وَالْأُنْثَى وَالصَّغِيرِ وَالْكَبِيرِ مِنْ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَأَمَرَ بِهَا أَنْ تُؤَدَّى قَبْلَ خُرُوجِ النَّاسِ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ “ The Prophet has regarded the sadaqah of fitr as obligatory on every Muslim. It is one saa of dates or one saa of barley for every individual whether he is a free man or slave, man or woman, old or young and directed Muslims that it should be paid before people go out for the prayer “. ( Source: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1503 ) Although Sharia has not fixed the form in which this charity is to be given, but keeping in mind the reality (‘ haqiqat ‘)of the directive, it should be given in a form which would help the poor and the needy with their Eid preparations and should be in accordance with their needs. So if clothes serve this purpose in a particular instance, then clothes can also be given as Sadqa-e-Fitr. _______ For comments of Ghamidi Sahab on Sadqa-e-Fitr and other related questions , please refer to the video below from 25:56 to 31:51 https://youtu.be/2OuABL8Yc64?t=1556 Alternative Link : ilm-o-Hikmat 03-07-2016