In the Name of Allah,
The scholars disagree on the amount of food that would be sufficient for each of the sixty needy people stated in the texts when it comes to the feeding need.
According to the Hanafis, it is permissible to feed or provide food to a single impoverished person for a period of 60 days, even though doing so on the same day is improper. The other three schools disagree, saying that it is vital to feed 60 people instead of only one impoverished person.
The classical Hanafi book Al-Quduri says,
“He may serve them dinner and supper, regardless of how much they consume, and if he feeds [just] one needy person for 60 days, that is sufficient. If he feeds him for a day, it is only valid for that day and not after that.
The cooked food is likewise acceptable according to the Hanafis. The author continues, If the offender of the harmful comparison (Zihar) is unable to fast, he feeds sixty persons who are in need. Each individual in need must be fed by him:
A half’ Sa’ of wheat, a Sa’ of dates or barley, or of that thing’s worth”[i].
The stronger and the correct opinion is that If he chooses to feed the poor because he is unable to carry out the first two options—freeing a slave or fasting for two months—he may do it either all at once or in stages, depending on his capacity. The required number of poor people must be covered. Additionally, it is forbidden to give the food provided as atonement to one’s ascendants (fathers, mothers, grandparents, and great-grandparents) or descendants (children and grandchildren, both male and female)[ii].
Ibn Qayyim said in Zaad Al maad,
‘One cannot feed one person for sixty days since sixty people must be fed. The majority view is that. According to Aboo Haneefa, one is required to feed sixty individuals but may also feed one person for sixty days. The belief that one may not feed one person if he has found other individuals is the most accurate.[iii]
Sheikh as-Saadi stated in the Tafseer of the Quranic verse that one [“must feed sixty needy persons”] either by providing them with an adequate amount of the local staple food, as is the opinion of many commentators or by providing each needy person with a Mudd of wheat or half a sa’of another food item that is acceptable as zakat al-Fitr, as is the opinion of others.
Sheikh Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) stated,
“If he wants to feed sixty people in need, he has two options: either he makes food and asks the sixty people to consume it, or he distributes rice or whatever the country’s staple food is among the people, giving each person a Mudd of wheat or something like, or half a Sa’ of anything else”[iv].
Allah has commanded that the atonement be made before the couple makes physical contact, whether it is by releasing the slave or by fasting. Contrarily, when poor people are fed as atonement, the couple may resume their intimate relationship while the food is being distributed.’[v]
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Compiled from Sources:
[i] The MUKHTAṢAR AL-QUDŪRĪ, A Manual of Islamic law, According to the Hanafi School, Page 381
[ii] https://islamqa.info/en/answers/132273/is-it-obligatory-to-feed-sixty-poor-persons-in-one-go-can-he-feed-his-family-with-what-he-offers-as-expiation-kafaarah
[iii] Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (ZAD AL M AA’D) PROVISIONS OF THE AFTERLIFE, WHICH LIE WITHIN PROPHETIC GUIDANCE, Translation Ismail Abdus Salaam, Dar Al-Kotob Al-llmiyah Publication, 2010, Page 800
[iv] Fatwa Islamiyah (Islamic Verdicts) Vol 6 From the noble scholars Abdullah bib Baaz, Shaikh Uthaymeen, Ibn Jibreen ( May Allah have mercy on them) along with the permanent committee. Darussalam Publications Page 77
[v] Tafseer as -Sa’di Abdur-Rahman Nasir as-Sa‘di Translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab Edited by Huda Khattab. Vol 10 page 32