Can I Send Zakat al-Fitr Outside My Country?

23 May, 2020

Q As-Salamu alaykum. Is it permissible send Zakat al-Fitr outside my country?

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

There is nothing wrong with sending zakat al-fitr outside your country if there are no poor people in your area.

Answering your question, Sheikh `Abdullah ibn Abdulrahman ibn Jibreen, a member of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas, states:

If there are no poor people in your area, or those who will take it do not really need it and will not eat it, but will instead sell it at half price, and it is difficult to find poor and needy people who will eat it, then it is permissible to send it outside your country.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.