A bayt al-mal for sadaqat al-fitr and the like

Question

In our village, praise be to Allah, a bayt al-mal (common treasury) has been set up. Every year at Eid al-Fitr we collect sadaqat al-fitr from house to house, and after Eid the managing committee decides which of the deserving people of the village should be given how much money, monthly or in a lump sum. What is the Shari‘a status of such an arrangement? May sadaqat al-fitr be collected before the day of Eid as well?

Answer

Organising sadaqat al-fitr so that everyone pays it, no one is left out, and it is spent on the proper recipients is very appropriate. But no form of compulsion should be adopted in it, such that every person must give sadaqat al-fitr only to the bayt al-mal and the people of the bayt al-mal go and impose themselves on him.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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