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Is it permissible to pay expiation through prepaid coupons distributed to the poor and needy for them to have meals at a specific restaurant?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

First: It is permissible to delegate charitable organizations to disburse the expiation for an oath (kaffarat al-yamin), because financial acts of worship, such as zakat, sadaqat (charity), and expiations, allow for delegation in their collection and distribution.

Second: There is no harm in the organization giving a pre-paid meal coupon from a restaurant to a poor person, because the coupon represents food and not money. Thus, the organization's purchase of coupons is a purchase of meals that are deferred for distribution to the poor. The permissibility of giving expiation as ready meals has been established previously. The expiation must be by feeding ten poor people, and it is not sufficient to feed one poor person ten times.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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