He feeds a mudd of whatever type he wishes. This is the opinion of 'Ata', al-Awza'i, and al-Shafi'i, due to what Abu Hurayrah narrated in the hadith of the one who had intercourse, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was brought a basket of dates, the amount of which was fifteen sa's, and he said: "Take this and feed it on your behalf." Narrated by Abu Dawud. Our argument is what Ahmad narrated: Ismail told us, Ayyub told us, from Abu Zayd al-Madani who said: A woman from the Banu Bayadah came with half a wasq of barley, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to the one who performed zihar: "Feed this, for two mudds of barley are in place of one mudd of wheat." Furthermore, the expiation for an injury (fidyat al-adha) is half a sa' of dates or barley, without disagreement, so this is the same. A mudd of wheat takes the place of half a sa' of other [types], by the evidence of our hadith, and because sufficiency with a mudd of it is the opinion of Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurayrah, and Zayd, and there is no dissenter among the Companions regarding them. As for the hadith of Salamah ibn Sakhr, it has been differed upon. The hadith of the companions of al-Shafi'i can be interpreted as meaning that what was brought to the Prophet (peace be upon him) was less than what was obligatory, and he deemed it sufficient due to the incapacity of the one expiating to provide anything else.

Section: If he discharges it using flour (daqiq) or sawiq, it suffices, due to what we have mentioned previously. If he provides the poor with lunch or dinner, it does not suffice him, according to the more apparent of the two narrations from him. This is the obvious implication of the words of al-Khiraqi, because he specified what suffices for the payment as a mudd or half a sa', and if he feeds them, he does not know if every individual among them has received the full amount obligatory for them. The reasoning for this is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) clarified the amount to be fed to each poor person via the aforementioned hadiths, and these are restrictive of the absolute [mention] of feeding, and the absolute is to be interpreted according to the restrictive. He does not know if every poor person has received what