brethren. The first of these institutions is the ṣadaqāt al-Fiṭr or zakāt al-Fiṭr, i.e., charity connected with the ‘Īd al-Fiṭr. Every Muslim on that occasion is required to give away in charity a certain measure of food, or its equivalent in money. This sum must be collected by every Muslim community and then distributed among those who deserve it.24 The second institution is connected with the ‘Īd al-Adzḥā, on which occasion not only are the poor members of the community fed with the meat of the sacrificed animals, but the skins of those animals (and also dried or preserved meat, in case the supply is greater than the demand) are sold, and the sum thus realized spent on some charitable object of national value, such as the propagation of Islām.
24 It has already been shown, in the chapter on ‘Īd prayers, that the Fiṭr charity was collected and then distributed: and here too the choice was not with the individual but with the community.