Rules Concerning Qada Fasts

Imam Khamenei

1- Due to a journey made for an important religious mission, I became liable to qada of 18 days of Ramadan. What is my duty? Is it obligatory for me to perform qada of the missed fasting?

A: You must perform qada of the Ramadan fasting days missed due to traveling.

2- Those who could not fast due to their journey for religious mission during the month of Ramadan, and now want to make up after years of delay; do they have to pay any kaffarah?

A: If delaying the qada of fasting of Ramadan until the next Ramadan was due to a continuing legitimate excuse, then they should perform only qada of the missed fasting days and no redemption money [fiidyah] is required, although caution lies in giving fediyah as well. But, if the delay was for no legitimate reason and a result of negligence, then they are liable both to their qada as well as redemption money [fediyah].

3- A person did not perform prayers or fast for about 10 years due to ignorance. Now he has repented, turning to God, the Exalted, and decided to compensate for his past. But he cannot perform qada of all the days he did not fast, nor has the means to pay for the kaffarah. Is it enough for him to ask for forgiveness [istighfar] alone?

A: He is not relieved from the duty of performing qada of the missed fasting by any means. As to the kaffarah for each day that he did not fast, if he is not able to fast for 60 days and also unable to feed 60 needy persons, he must give as much as he can to the poor and if he could not do that, as well, he would ask Allah for forgiveness.

4- I fasted almost for one month with the intention of carrying out the qada of any fast that I might have missed, or to be counted as a means of nearness to God. Is this month of fasting counted as qada for the fasting that I missed?

A: If you fasted with the intention of carrying out whatever counts as your present duty, an obligatory or a recommended fast, it would be counted as the qada of the fasts missed if you were liable to any.

5- A person, not knowing the number of fasts he missed, performs fasts with the intention of performing a recommended fast believing that he is not liable to any qada. Is this fasting counted as qada for missed fasting days if he is liable to qada of some fasts?

A: The fasting days kept with the intention of recommended fasting do not count as qada for fasts whose qada one is liable to perform.

6- A woman could not fast due to pregnancy and the approaching delivery. She knew that after delivery she must perform qada for the days she did not fast before the next Ramadan, If she did not fast after delivery, intentionally or otherwise, for several years, does she have to pay only the kaffarah for that year or for all the years she delayed the fasting?

A: The redemption money [fediyah] for delaying the qada, even if it is for several years, is required only once. It is one mudd (750 grams) of food for each day and is required only if the qada was delayed until another Ramadan without any legitimate excuse. If one had an excuse for the delay preventing one from performing valid fasts, no redemption money [fediyah] is required.

7- Is it permissible to volunteer to pay the kaffarah on behalf of the dead?

A: Yes, it is permissible, and it would be valid.

8- What is the kaffarah for every elderly man and woman and those with parching thirst?

A: For each day they should pay one mudd of food only in cases where if the sawm was difficult for them and not if they were unable to fast.

9- Is it obligatory to hasten to do qada?

A: It is not obligatory, but it is not permissible to delay it without an excuse until the next month of Ramadan.

10- Is it permissible to pay the kaffarah of several days of Ramadan to one needy person?

A: There is no objection in doing so.

LAWS OF A LAPSED (QAḌĀʾ) FAST

Ayatollah Sistani

Ruling 1. If an insane person becomes sane, it is not obligatory for him to make up the fasts that he did not keep when he was insane.

Ruling 2. One must make up a fast that one did not keep due to intoxication, even if he consumed the intoxicating thing for the purposes of treatment.

Ruling 3. If someone has qaḍāʾ fasts left over from a number of previous Ramadans, it does not matter which month of Ramadan he keeps qaḍāʾ fasts for first. However, if the time for the qaḍāʾ of the last month of Ramadan is short – for example, he has to keep five qaḍāʾ fasts from the last month of Ramadan and only five days remain until the beginning of the next month of Ramadan – it is better that he keep the qaḍāʾ fasts for the last month of Ramadan first.

Ruling 4. If due to illness one does not fast in the month of Ramadan and his illness continues until the month of Ramadan of the following year, it is not obligatory for him to make up the fasts he did not keep; and for each day he must give one mudd (approximately 750 grams) of food – i.e. wheat, barley, bread, and suchlike – to a poor person. However, if one does not fast because of another legitimate excuse – for example, he was travelling – and his excuse remains valid until the following month of Ramadan, he must make up the fasts that he did not keep; and the obligatory precaution is that for each day, he must also give one mudd of food to a poor person.

Ruling 5. If in the month of Ramadan one does not fast due to a legitimate excuse and after the month of Ramadan that excuse expires but he intentionally does not make up the fasts before the following month of Ramadan, he must make them up and give one mudd of food to a poor person for each day.

Ruling 6. If a person’s illness continues for some years, he must make up the fasts for the last month of Ramadan after he gets better; and for each missed day of the previous years, he must give one mudd of food to a poor person.

Ruling 7. Someone who must give one mudd of food to a poor person for each missed fast can give the kaffārah of several days to one poor person.

Ruling 8. If a person intentionally does not keep the fasts of the month of Ramadan, he must make them up; and for each missed fast, he must fast for two months, or give food to sixty poor people, or free one slave. In the event that he does not make them up until the next month of Ramadan, then based on obligatory precaution, he must also give one mudd of food as kaffārah. 

Ruling 9. If a father had not kept obligatory fasts other than the fasts of the month of Ramadan – for example, he had not kept a fast that had become obligatory on account of a vow – or, if he had been hired to fast on behalf of someone else but had not done so, it is not obligatory for the eldest son to make up such fasts.

Rules of the Qadha Fast

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi

Issue 1: Whenever, by means of illness, the fast of the month of Ramadhaan is not performed and the illness becomes lengthy until the month of Ramadhan of the following year, the fasts which he had not performed are not obligatory. It is only required to give one Mudd (approximately 750 Grams) of wheat or Barley and things similar to that to an indigent. If by means of another excuse (for example, for the sake of traveling) the fast had not been performed and his excuse remained until the following Ramadhan, the obligatory precaution for that is that the fasts which he had not performed, he makes Qadhaa’ after Ramadhaan and for each day he gives one Mudd of food to an indigent. Likewise, if the fast had been abandoned for fear of illness, after the illness had been removed and another excuse, for example, traveling has come forward.

Issue 2: The Kaffaarah of fasting is one of three things: freeing a slave or two months fasting or feeding sixty indigents fully. Or if for each, one Mudd, which is approximately 750 grams of wheat or barley or something similar to that, is given, it is sufficient. In our time, in which freeing a slave has no place, the choice is between the two other things. In place of wheat, he is able to give the amount of bread the measure of which is one Mudd.

Issue 3: If a fasting person rendered his fast invalid with something unlawful, according to obligatory precaution, he must give all of the Kaffaarah. Meaning freeing a slave, also two months of fasting and also fully feeding sixty indigents (or feeding each one of them with a Mudd of food of approximately 750 grams weight. In the case each three are not possible, each one which is possible must be performed (although the unlawful thing, like drinking alcohol and fornication or like having intercourse with one’s own mate in menstruation.

Issue 4: If a vow (Nazr) is made a specified fast, for the sake of God is to be made, in the event that the fast is not made intentionally or the fast is made invalid, the Kaffaarah is required to be given (and the Kaffaarah of that is like the Kaffaarah of the month of Ramadhaan).