1. What must a Muslim do if he has nothing to give for his FITRA? 2. Is it permissible that I borrow money in order to give my FITRA? 3. What is the rule on FITRA, is it WAJIB or SUNNAH?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Zakaatul-Fitr is obligatory on a person who is able to give it. That is to say, a person who has food in excess of what he needs to sustain himself and those whom he is obliged to spend on for the day of ‘Eed and the night preceding it.

If a person does not have this amount of food, he is not obliged to give it. The evidence for this is the Hadeeth narrated by Ibn ‘Umar who said: “The Prophet, sallaallahu `alayhi wa sallam, enjoined the payment of one Saa' of dates or one Saa' of barley as Zakat-ul-Fitr on every Muslim, free and slave, male and female, young and old.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

It is known that paying Zakaatul-Fitr is subject to ability like all other obligations of Islam. As regards borrowing money in order to give the Zakaat-ul-Fitr, then it is not obligatory according to the view of the majority of the scholars .

*[a Saa' equals 2480 grams]

Allah knows best.