Jammu and Kashmir’s Grand Mufti Nasir-ul Islam Saturday said that Rs 65 have been fixed as the Sadaqat-ul-Fitr per person this Ramdhan while as there is no harm in paying more depending upon the financial capacity of the person.
He said that the amount for Sadakat-ul-Fitr has been fixed after thorough consensus with the Ulema from Kashmir and Jammu regions. Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam said that it is mandatory for every person to pay Sadaqat-ul-Fitr @Rs 65 this holy month.
“One organization Sautul-Awliya has announced Rs 70 in their individual capacity as Sadaqa-t-ul Fitr. If any person wants to pay Rs 70 or more than that, there is no harm as rewards will be more,” the Grand Mufti said.
He said Sadaqat-ul-Firt has to be paid to downtrodden, poor, destitute, orphans, homeless and not to Masjids, Shrines, Khanqahas or any religious organisation. Mufti Nasir-ul Islam said that Fitr amount should reach to the deserving people ahead of Eid so that they too can celebrate the festival along with others.
He said the Fitr amount was fixed after consensus with the Ulema from Kashmir and Jammu region respectively that include head of Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, patron of Darul Uloom Rahimiya Bandipora, Moulana Rehmatullah Qasimi, also from Darul Uloom Bandipora Mufti Nazir Ahmed Qasmi, Mufti Muzaffar, Mufti Abdur Raheem via Baramulla. Khateeb at the shrine of Hazrat Naqshband Sahab (RA) Prof Muhammad Tayib Kamili , Chairman Karwani-e-Islami Ghulam Rasool Hami, from Sautul Awliya Fayaz Ahmed Rizvi, Shia Scholars Aga Syed Al Hassan Mosvi, Aga Syed Haadi and Masoor Abbas Ansari, Muhammad Yaseen Kirmani, Gen Sec Muslim Personal Law Board, Mufti Himayon, Shabir Ahmed Geelani, Abdur Hameed Nayeemi, Moulana Younus and Abdur Rehman Ashrafi from Qazigund. From Jammu, Ulema’s who were part of the consensus include Mufti Nazir Ahmed, Mufti Shabir Ahmed Noori, Qari Ali Hussain, Haji Muhammad Shafi Nasri, Mufti Liyqat Ali Rajouri, Master Ashraf from Kathua, Moulana Muzaffar Hussian Rizvi from Jammu, Moulana Shafi Rizvi from Samba, Mufti Muhammad Iqbal from Poonch, Hafiz Syed Yasir from Udhampur, Bashir Ahmed Qadri and Reasi and Haji Muhammad Tariq from Jammu.
Quoting Hadith, he said: “Every Muslim is required to pay Sadaqt-ul-Fitr at the conclusion of the month of Ramadan as a token of thankfulness to Allah for having enabled him or her to observe the obligatory fast. Its purpose is: as a levy on the fasting person. The fasting of the month of fasting person will be hanging between earth and heavens and it will not be raised up to the Divine Presence without paying the Fitr amount.” About Zakat, Mufti Nasir said that Zakat is payable at 2.5% of the wealth one possesses above the nisab. Nisab, which is equal to 85 grams of 24k gold, is the minimum amount of wealth one must have before they are liable to pay zakat.