What Counts as a Legal Excuse to Leave Kaffara Fasting?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

According to the Hanafi school, can I switch to Kaffara payment if I cannot complete the 60 consecutive fasts for breaking a Ramadan fast through intercourse?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

If one has a legal excuse for not being able to fast, they can move on to the next option of expiation, which is to feed 60 people. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

A legal excuse would be old age, which the body is too frail to handle fasting or sickness, such that if one were to fast, they would experience undue hardship.[Ibid.]

Undue hardship is significantly more than the difficulty of the fast itself. One may find it difficult to fast for 60 days because they desire food and drink and struggle to overcome or limit such desires. This difficulty is the purpose and the point of this penalty. It teaches people a lesson and disciplines them to abstain from such egregious breaking of the fast in Ramadan. [Ibid.]

If, however, one is having medical complications, becomes severely weakened by the fast, or the like, this is undue hardship and one can consult with regards to their specific issues a local scholar to determine if they are exempt from this fast. [Ibid.]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he went on to study at Darul Uloom Seminary in New York and completed his studies at Darul Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen.

There, he completed the memorization of the Quran and his study of Islamic Sciences. Throughout his years of study, he was blessed to learn from many great scholars: Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Kazhim al-Saqqaf, Shaykh ‘Umar bin Husayn al-Khatib, and others.

Upon returning, he joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.