Is it permissible to use different types of food or clothing to fulfill the obligation of feeding or clothing the poor for expiation?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Expiations

Book 60 · Issue 2 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

It is valid if one feeds some poor people with wheat and others with dates, or uses another type of food. This is established by the command: {So its expiation is the feeding of ten poor people} (Quran 5:89). This is supported by analogy: just as it is permissible to clothe some poor people with cotton and others with linen, despite the difference in material, the same applies to feeding.

Supporting text

Al-Shafi'i holds that it is not valid to use different types of food.