In india, the peoples gives the zakatul fitr as money instead of staple food and gives fitr of 1633 gram of wheat. What is the basis for that ? How many kg are equal to one saa And Is it allow to give zakatul fitr of Half saa of wheat ?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

It appears that those people in India adopt the Hanafi school of Fiqh whose followers believe that it is permissible to give money for Zakat Al-Fitr instead of food and that equivalent value in money is better according to them than foodstuff.

It was reported that Abu Yoosuf said: “To me, it is better to give flour than wheat. And giving the value in money is better to me than flour and wheat, as that is closer to warding off the need of the poor.”

On the other hand, what is obligatory, according to them, is to pay half Saa’ of wheat. They substantiated their view by the Hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ordered ‘Amr ibn Hazm regarding Zakat Al-Fitr to give half Saa‘ of wheat or a Saa’ of dates. Al-Bayhaqi classified it as Dha’eef (weak).

Also, they substantiated their opinion with the statement of Mu‘aawiyah reported by Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri who said: “Mu‘aawiyah said: I see that two Mudds of Zakat out of Samraa’ (wheat) of Ash-Shaam (Greater Syria) is equal to one Saa‘ of dates. So the people accepted it.’ Abu Sa‘eed said: ‘As for me, I continue to give out what I used to give out before (i.e. one Saa’) as long as I live.’” [Muslim] Saa’ is four Mudds, two Mudds are the half of it.

An-Nawawi said in Sharh Muslim: “This is the Hadeeth that Abu Haneefah and those who agree with him depend on in allowing half Saa’ of wheat. The majority of scholars answered him saying that it is just an opinion of a Companion that was opposed by Abu Sa‘eed and others who had accompanied the Prophet for a longer time than him and known more than him about the conditions of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and if the Companions held different opinions, then the opinion of some of them cannot be more appropriate than the others' opinions and thus we have to refer to other evidence. We have found that the apparent meaning of Ahaadeeth and analogy agree on stipulating Saa’ of wheat like others and thus it should be adopted. Moreover, Mu‘aawiyah said explicitly that it is just an opinion and that he did not hear it from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Furthermore, if one of the gathering who were many at that time had knowledge that the statement of Mu‘aawiyah is in conformity with the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, he would mention it as happened in many occasions other than that one.” [End quote]

They (the Hanafis) also have substantiated their opinion with too many Ahaadeeth to be mentioned here; however, An-Nawawi said in Sharh Muslim: “They depended on weak Ahaadeeth that scholars of Hadeeth deemed weak and their weakness is very clear.” [End quote]

Ibn Al-Munthir said: “A group of scholars said that half Saa’ of wheat is sufficient, but it cannot be sufficient  from raisins, dates and all other things except a whole Saa’. This was adopted by Ath-Thawri and most of the people of Koofah. He added: it was narrated to us from Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq and Uthmaan that half Saa’ of wheat is sufficient. He further added that this was not proved from them. He also said: This was narrated to us from ‘Ali, Ibn Mas‘ood, Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullaah, Ibn Az-Zubayr, Abu Hurayrah, Mu‘aawiyah and Asmaa’. It was also adopted by Ibn Al-Musayyib, Taawoos, ‘Ataa’, Mujaahid, and ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul Azeez. Also, it was reported from Sa‘eed ibn Jubayr, ‘Urwah ibn Az-Zubayr, Mus‘ab ibn Sa‘d and Abi Qilaabah. ‘Ali, Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ash-Sha‘bi held different opinions regarding it.” [End quote]

That opinion was adopted by Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah as stated in Al-Fataawa Al-Kubra. He said: “Zakat Al-Fitr is to pay a Saa’ of dates or barley. If you pay it from wheat, then you pay only half Saa’ of it. This opinion was adopted by Abu Haneefah and the analogy of Imaam Ahmad's opinion in other expiations.” [End quote] Al-Ba‘li stated this text in Al-Ikhtiyaaraat.

As for estimating the half Saa’ to be 1633 grams of wheat, it is based on that the legal weight of the dirham is 3.14 grams, and it was said: 3.17 grams and there are other estimations for that.

To explain that, the Baghdaadi pound, according to Abu Haneefah, equals 130 dirham, but, according to the majority of scholars, it equals 128 and four-sevenths of dirham.

According to Abu Haneefah, Saa’ of the time of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, equaled eight pounds, as the Mudd is two Iraqi pounds and he substantiated his opinion by a Hadeeth reported by Anas . However, it equals, according to the majority of scholars, five and one-third pounds. Abu Yoosuf, the disciple of Abu Haneefah, finally adopted that opinion. Also, the majority of scholars have strong evidence from Sunnah on their calculation; but this is not the place to mention them.

Accordingly, half Saa’ will be four pounds according to Hanafi scholars. Calculation will be as follows: 4 pounds (i.e. half Saa‘) X 130 dirhams (which equal one pound) X 3.14 grams (which equal one dirham) = 1633 grams; thus Saa’, according to them, equals 3266 grams approximately.

According to the majority of scholars, Saa’ equals five and one-third pounds. If dirham weighs 3.17 grams and the pound, according to them, has 128 and four-sevenths of dirham, the Saa’ will be, according to them, 2176 grams.

Professor Wahbah Az-Zuhayli stated that measurement in his book Al-Fiqh Al-Islaami wa Adillatuh saying: “Legal Saa’ or Baghdaadi Saa’ is four Mudds or 5 and 1/3 pounds, i.e. four double handfuls. Its weight is 685.7 dirhams, 2.75 liters or 2176 grams and this is the opinion of Ash-Shaafi‘i, jurists of Hijaaz and the two prominent disciples of Abu Haneefah (Abu Yoosuf and Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan), based on calculating the Mudd as one pound and one-third by Iraqi measurement. According to Abu Haneefah and Iraqi jurists, it is eight pounds, based on calculating the Mudd as two pounds... The Iraqi dirham is 3.17 gram, while the current Egyptian dirham is 3.12 grams.” [End quote]

Allaah Knows best.