📜 Question: In our country, Zakat Al-Fitr is paid in the form of money, since the poor do not want grains (rice, wheat, barley etc.) and the like. So what do we do?
📝 Answer: The issue is not about what the poor want. This (paying the Zakat Al-Fitr) is an act of worship which must be carried out and fulfilled in the way of the noble Prophet Muhammad SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam.
Whoever does not want the food (the package of rice, barley, dates etc. equal to one saa' or two and a half - about three- kilograms), then they are not really needy. Give it (the Zakat Al-Fitr) to the actually needy person who can receive the food.
Translated from the statements or fataawa of sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan (May Allah protect him. Ameen.)
📖 Ibn Abbas RadhiAllahu 'anhuma narrated: The Messenger of Allah SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam obligated Zakat Al-Fitr as a purification of the fasting person from vain talk and misbehavior (during Ramadan), as food for the poor. Whoever pays it before the Eid prayer, it is accepted as Zakah. Whoever pays it after the Eid prayer, it is part of (Sadaqah) voluntary charity.
Source: Sunan Abī Dāwūd 1609
Grade: Hasan (Fair) according to Ibn Qudamah
📖 Ibn Umar RadhiAllahu 'anhuma narrated: The Messenger of Allah SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam made it an obligation (fardh/waajib) to pay charity (Zakah) at the end of Ramadan, a portion of dates or barely, upon the slave and the freeman, the male and the female, the young and the old among the Muslims. The Prophet SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam ordered it to be given before people go out for the Eid prayer.
Source: Sahih Al-Bukhari 1503, Sahih Muslim 986
https://www.abukhadeejah.com/the-rulings-of-zakat-al-fitr/