Who Should Pay Zakat Al-Fitr?

Regarding Zakatul-Fitr that comes at the end of Ramadan. Does it has to be paid by somebody who has that money only? Or does it have to be paid by everybody even if they don’t have work and don't have the money?

In the Hadith of Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri, Ibn Abbas and Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) instructed his followers to give out on the night of Eid, which is the last day of Ramadan. You should give out one Saa' of food to the poor and this Saa' is an equivalent of 2.2 kg of dates, so you can give the equivalent of this weight of dates, of wheat, of rice, food that people usually consume.

The Prophet stated that this should be on every individual. So if it’s a male, a female, a slave, a free person, a grown up, a child, we should give out a Saa' on each one of them. And this is to be given to the poor so that they would not go and ask for the food on that particular day, which is Eid.

Now having said that scholars did not say that if a person has no income or does not work, he should not give out Zakah, on the contrary, they say that any person who has what is enough to feed him on that day whatever surplus he has, he has to give if he can find it. For example if I have 5 kg of rice in my house, lets assume that 2.5 is enough for myself, the surplus which is 2.5, I should give it out and give it as Zakah. Some would say, “but you are already poor, you have only this amount..”, well, the others will give me in exchange and I have much much more but this as a ritual I have to pay myself to the poor.

Sheikh Assim Al-Hakim