زكاة الفطر
Abu Sa‘īd al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: At the time of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) we used to pay it (Zakat al-Fitr) as one Sā‘ of food, or one Sā‘ of barley, or one Sā‘ of dry crumbled milk, or one Sā‘ of raisins. When Mu‘āwiyah came (during his rule) and the Syrian wheat became available, he said: "I see that one Mudd (quarter of a Sā‘) of this is equivalent to two Mudds (of other kinds of grains)." Abu Sa‘īd said: "As for me, I still pay it as I used to pay it during the Prophet's lifetime."
عن أبي سعيد الخُدْريِّ -رضي الله عنه- قال: "كنا نعطيها في زمن رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- صاعًا من طعام، أو صاعًا من شعير، أو صاعًا من أَقِطٍ، أو صاعًا من زبيب، فلما جاء معاوية، وجاءت السَّمْرَاءُ، قال: أرى مُدّاً من هذه يعدل مُدَّيْنِ. قال أبو سعيد: أما أنا: فلا أزال أخرجه كما كنت أخرجه على عهد رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم-".
شرح الحديث :
Abu Sa‘īd (may Allah be pleased with him) tells us that during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) people used to pay Zakat al-Fitr as a Sā‘ of food. When Mu‘āwiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived in Madīnah during his rule, he said: “I see that half a Sā‘ of the Syrian wheat is equivalent to one Sā‘ of anything else”. It was Ijtihād on his side that was not based on a Shariah text. His opinion was based on the fact that this kind of wheat was more expensive and of a higher quality than the dates, barley and other types of food. So people started to apply this. As for Abu Sa‘īd (may Allah be pleased with him), he disapproved of this opinion and committed himself to paying one Sā‘ of any type of food, just as he used to pay it during the lifetime of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) preferring to adhere to the prophetic tradition, and in order for the charity to achieve the desired sufficiency for people. It should be noted that the Sā‘ now equals approximately three kilograms.