What is the difference between sadaqah and fitrah? When we donate some money excluding Zakat money, then what will be the right term to refer that?
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can you please clarify this part of your question " then what will be write a call for that? ". by fitrah are you referring to a type of zakat?. al-fitr zakat that we give after ramzan?. fitrah and fitr are different, please be clear in your question so the community can find it easy to provide an adequate answer, insha Allah.– ahmad nazeemNov 1, 2021 at 14:24
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@ahmadnazeem sorry that was a typo. corrected now. Don't know about Fitrah, but yes I am not referring Zakat. We give Sadqah-al-fitr after Ramazan. I am not referring fitr here.– RashidNov 1, 2021 at 15:01
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fitrah or fira in means the state of innocence we believe all humans are born with. in arabic it is usually used as innate nature, original disposition and natural constitution. isn't every sadaqah done out-side the prescribed terms of zakat just sadaqah?, what more can it be?.– ahmad nazeemNov 1, 2021 at 15:17
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1@ahmadnazeem I'm not clear how common it is, but in some countries fitrah is also referring to zakat al-fitr or sadaqa al-fitr. From this perspective the tag used here is misleading, because fitrah is as you stated the state of innocence with which all humans are brought to life.– Medi1Saif ♦Nov 3, 2021 at 6:53
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1 Answer
Sadaqah ( صدقة ) is the generic term for any charity - wealth that is given as an act of worship, to seek Allah's approval. It is inclusive of both obligatory charity and voluntary charity. And sometimes one may use this term to mean only one of the above. For example the Quran (e.g. 9:60) and hadith (e.g. Muslim 979a) at times use this term to actually mean only Zakat. While when people use the term they usually mean only voluntary charity.
Zakat ( زكاة ) is the name of a specific type of charity which is obligatory. Typically it refers to the charity that is obligatory on a Muslim at an ordained rate (e.g. 2.5%) when he/she owns a minimum threshold of wealth (nisab) for an ordained period of time (one year). For example if you have owned 1000 grams of Gold for a whole year, then you must pay 25 grams from it (or the equivalent price) as charity.
Sadaqah al-Fitr ( صدقة الفطر ) , Zakat al-Fitr ( زكاة الفطر ) and Fitrah ( فطرة ) is the name of another specific type of charity which is obligatory on every Muslim at the end of Ramadan. The amount to be disbursed is fixed per person. So for example if you are a family of 5, you would give 5 saa's (15Kg) of rice after every Ramadan.
Sadaqah al-Tatawwu‘ ( صدقة التطوع ) or Sadaqah al-Nafilah ( صدقة النافلة ) is the name of a specific type of charity which is not part of an obligation, but rather is given voluntarily. For example you might just feel like doing a virtuous deed and decide to give $20 as charity. There is no restriction on the time, amount, preconditions or recipients of this charity.
What is the difference between sadaqah and fitrah?
In most cases Sadaqah means Sadaqah al-Tatawwu‘. Here the difference between them is that one is obligatory while the second is voluntary. One is due at a special occasion and has a prescribed amount, while the other is at your discretion.
Otherwise Sadaqah is used in its wider meaning. Here the difference between them is that Sadaqah is general while Sadaqah al-Fitr is specific. Fitrah is always a type of Sadaqah but not every Sadaqah is Fitrah. As another example of this concept: The term 'book' is general but 'Quran' is specific. The Quran is a book, but not every book is the Quran.
When we donate some money excluding Zakat money, then what will be the right term to refer that?
If you mean optional charity, then you can use either Sadaqah al-Tatawwu‘ or Sadaqah al-Nafilah or even plain Sadaqah.
Ref:
والفطرة: صدقة الفطر، والخلقة التي خلق عليها المولود في رحم أمه، والدين