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Sūrat Al-Baqarah 2:184
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A translation of this fatwā from Naseem Al-Sham:
Question:
What is the value of the kaffārah[1] for the person who has been prevented from fasting by
his doctor for health reasons? How does he carry it out, when and to whom?
Answer (Imam
Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):
Whoever has to break his
fast due to illness and it is hoped that he will recover, all he has to
do is make them up when he is able.
Whoever has to break his fast
due to an illness[2]
from which he is not expected to recover has to donate the equivalent of
approximately half a kilogramme of
rice[3]
for each missed day,[4]
and when we say rice we mean the rice itself, not its monetary value.
[1]
(tn): The word should actually be fidyah, which means redemption, while kaffārah is expiation. Please see this fatwā and this
article. Someone who misses fasts due to illness has not committed any sin,
and thus fidyah should be regarded as an alternative means of
worshipping one’s Lord.
[2]
(tn): ‘those who are ill (N: the illness that permits not fasting being
that which fasting would worsen, delay recovery from, or cause one considerable
harm with; the same dispensation applying to someone who needs to take medicine
during the day that breaks the fast and that he cannot delay taking until
night.’ [Reliance of the Traveller (Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publication,
1999), section i1.3(1), p.279]
[3]
(tn): i.e. half a litre of food, which should be the staple crop of the
country. Please see Reliance, section i1.33, p.290. According to Muʿjam Lughat al-Fuqahāʾ (Beirut: Dār Al-Nafāʾis, 1431/2010), s.v. Mudd, one mudd
is equivalent to 0.543 kg, to be precise.
