The position of Mawlana ‘Abd al-Shakur ﵀ on the amount of sadaqat al-fitr

Question

In ‘Ilm al-Fiqh, compiled by Mawlana ‘Abd al-Shakur Lakhnawi, there is also a statement concerning sadaqat al-fitr of eighteen chhatanks (a unit of weight, 1/16 of a seer, ≈ 58 g). In Fatawa Dar al-‘Ulum it has been declared wrong, and it is written there that whoever paid according to this reckoning, his payment was not valid, and it is necessary to pay the remainder. To remove this contradiction, what explanation (tawjih) is there for the statement written by the ‘allama?

Answer

The origin of this disagreement is that the ahmar (ratti, a small unit of weight) is of two kinds: one according to the jurists (fuqaha) and the other according to the physicians, and there is a difference between their weights. Mawlana ‘Abd al-Shakur Lakhnawi ﵀ considered one weight valid, and the other senior scholars the other weight.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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