it is permissible to distribute it to them as it does not constitute food for them. He conjoined food to the sacrificial offering (hady), then conjoined fasting to it; had it not been one of its forms, that would not have been permissible therein. Furthermore, it is an atonement in which food is mentioned, so it is among its forms, like all other atonements. As for their statement that it is made mandatory due to the commission of a forbidden act, this is invalidated by the ransom for injury (fidyat al-adha). Moreover, the wording of the scriptural text is explicit regarding the choice (takhyeer), so abandoning its implication by drawing an analogy to the sacrificial offering for temporary enjoyment (hady al-mut'a) is not more appropriate than the reverse. Thus, just as it is not permissible to draw an analogy between the sacrificial offering for temporary enjoyment and this regarding the choice, due to what it entails of abandoning the text, the same applies here. The second section: When he chooses the substitute, he shall slaughter it and distribute it as charity to the poor of the Sanctuary, because Allah Almighty said: "a sacrificial offering brought to the Kaaba." It does not suffice him to distribute it while alive to the poor, because Allah Almighty named it a "sacrificial offering," and a sacrificial offering must be slaughtered, and he may slaughter it whenever he wishes; it is not restricted to the Days of Sacrifice (Ayyam al-Nahr). The third section: Whenever he chooses the feeding, he shall value the substitute in dirhams, and the dirhams in food, and distribute it as charity to the poor. This is the opinion of al-Shafi'i. Malik said: "He shall value the game itself, not the substitute," because when the valuation becomes mandatory due to destruction, the destroyed object is valued, like that which has no substitute. Our position is that for everything that is destroyed, a substitute becomes mandatory; when it is valued, the value of its substitute becomes due, like the fungible property of a human, and he considers the value of the substitute within the Sanctuary because it is the place of its distribution. It does not suffice to pay the value itself because Allah Almighty gave a choice between three things, and the value is not one of them. The food that is distributed is the same as that which is distributed for Zakat al-Fitr and the ransom for injury, which is wheat, barley, dates, and raisins. It is possible that it suffices to give anything that is called food because of its inclusion in the general term, and he gives every poor person a mudd of wheat, just as...