QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Din and muftis of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: I have yet to make up for a few fasts I missed last Ramadan. I couldn’t observe them due to my monthly cycle. Is it necessary to make up for them before this Ramadan or shall I pay fidya [ransom] for them?
Questioner: Tanzila from UK
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
You must make up for the missed fasts of last Ramadan before this Ramadan. Do not delay them without reason. If this year’s Ramadan arrives while you are making up for the missed fasts of last Ramadan, then observe this year’s fard [obligatory] fasts. Make up for last year’s missed fasts after this Ramadan. Paying fidya in lieu of them is not permissible. The command of paying fidya is for a shaykh fani (such an old person who is not able to fast).
Allah ﷻ states:
وَعَلَی الَّذِیۡنَ یُطِیۡقُوۡنَہٗ فِدْیَۃٌ طَعَامُ مِسْکِیۡنٍؕ
Translation: “For those who can fast only with extreme difficulty, there is a way to compensate— feed a needy person.”
[Surah al-Baqarah: 184]
If this Ramadan arrives, then you must make up for previously missed fasts after Ramadan. You do not have to pay their fidya.
It is stated in the reliable Hanafi work, al-Durr al-Mukhtar:
وَلَوْ جَاءَ رَمَضَانُ الثَّانِي قُدِّمَ الْأَدَاءُ عَلَى الْقَضَاءِ وَلَا فِدْيَةَ
Translation: “If the next Ramadan arrives, its fasts will take precedence over the missed fasts (of the previous Ramadan) and there is no fidya in lieu of the latter.”
[al-Durr al-Mukhtar, vol. 3, pg. 465]
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadiri
Translated by the SeekersPath Team
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0705] I have missed Fasts from last year due to Periods, do I make them up or pay Fidya?
Also see:
[Q-ID0689] I have some Fasts outstanding from Ramadan last year, will my Fasting this year be valid?
[Q-ID0719] My menstrual cycle finished during the day in Ramadan, must I now Fast?