How Should a Woman Who Is No Longer Able to Fast Due to Old Age Make Up for the Missed Fasts from Her Youth?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question

A lady who is old now and can’t fast anymore had not fasted for years when she was young. Also, when she started fasting, she didn’t make up for the days she couldn’t fast due to menstruation, and now she wants to make up for all those missed fasts.

How should she make up for those fasts, given that she can’t fast anymore?

Answer

I pray that this message finds you well, in sha’ Allah.

If she is unable to fast, and this inability is chronic such that she is not expected to recover from it, she would need to pay the expiation (fidya).

The expiation is the monetary equivalent of approximately 2.2kg of wheat, the price of which you should confirm with your local mosque or Islamic center or a reliable scholar.

Further, she would need to repent for deliberately missing fasts during Ramadan.

Please also see:

A Reader on Tawba (Repentance)

Brief Overview of Expiatory Payments (fidya)

Too Sick to Fast in Ramadan, Too Poor to Pay the Expiatory Payment (Fidya)

And Allah alone knows best.

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam