Fatwa ID: 08016
Answered by: Maulana Abdurrahman Mohammad
Question:
I am a young Muslim sister, and I wanted to ask about a situation from my teenage years. I intentionally broke a fast during Ramadan, and I’m wondering if I need to fast for 60 consecutive days or if I can give Kaffārah instead and be exempt from fasting the 60 days.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Breaking a Ramadan fast intentionally necessitates make-up (Qadā’) and expiation (Kaffārah).
Fatāwā Hindiyyah mentions in “The Book of Fasting” under the chapter “The Second Type: What Necessitates Qada and Kaffarah”:
If he intentionally eats something that is used for food or medicine, he must make expiation.[1]
Breaking The Sixty-Day Streak
If the fasting streak is broken without a valid Shar’i reason, it must be restarted.
Fatāwā Hindiyyah states:
The meaning of expiation [Kaffarah] (his statement: like the expiation of the one who does Zihār) is connected to his statement: “and expiates” meaning like it in order. So he frees a slave first. If he does not find one, he fasts two consecutive months. If he is unable, he feeds sixty poor people, according to the well-known hadith of the Bedouin in the six books. So if he breaks the fast, even for an excuse, he starts over again, except for the excuse of menstruation.[2]
Therefore, you would need to fast for 60 consecutive days, excluding the days of menstruation, the two Eids, and the days of Tashreeq (the 11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhul-Hijjah following Eid Al-Adha). These exceptions should be added consecutively at the end of your 60-day fast without any gaps.
Inability to Fast 60 Consecutive Days
If a person is unable to fast due to old age or a terminal illness, they are required to feed sixty poor people the equivalent of 1 Saa’ of dates or barley, or ½ Saa’ of wheat, either in kind or value.
Only Allah (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) knows best.
Written by Maulana Abdurrahman Mohammad
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
References:
[1] إذَا أَكَلَ مُتَعَمِّدًا مَا يُتَغَذَّى بِهِ أَوْ يُتَدَاوَى بِهِ يَلْزَمُهُ الْكَفَّارَةُ
(Al-Fatāwā Al-Hindiyya, vol. 1, pg. 205, Al-Maṭba’ah Al-Kubrā Al-Amīriyyah)
[2] مَطْلَبٌ فِي الْكَفَّارَةِ (قَوْلُهُ: كَكَفَّارَةِ الْمُظَاهِرِ) مُرْتَبِطٌ بِقَوْلِهِ وَكَفَّرَ أَيْ مِثْلُهَا فِي التَّرْتِيبِ فَيَعْتِقُ أَوَّلًا فَإِنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ صَامَ شَهْرَيْنِ مُتَتَابِعَيْنِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ أَطْعَمَ سِتِّينَ مِسْكِينًا لِحَدِيثِ الْأَعْرَابِيِّ الْمَعْرُوفِ فِي الْكُتُبِ السِّتَّةِ فَلَوْ أَفْطَرَ وَلَوْ لِعُذْرٍ اسْتَأْنَفَ إلَّا لِعُذْرِ الْحَيْضِ
(Radd Al-Muhtār, vol. 2, pg. 412, Darul Fikr Beirut)
