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Is Kaffarah obligatory if I did not know that missing a fast in Ramadan is a major sin?

Q:

If a person found it excusable in Islam to miss some fasts due to exams and/or difficulty, and later on finds out that this is not excusable and is a grave sin, is it sufficient that he repents and never does it again, or does he have to fast continuously for 60 days? Which scholars are of the view that one should only make up the missed fasts, and which are of the view that the Kuffarah is imposed (which is the majority’s view)?

A:

Salamun Alaykum

Thank you for your query.

If your excuse was valid at the time you missed the fast, like due to illness etc. you did not fast then there is no Kaffarah on it. You will just have to make the Qadha. But if the excuse is just for exam or fast being difficult without medically harmful then that is not counted as a valid reason to miss a fast.

So you can judge accordingly and fulfill your responsibility.

 

According to all Mujtahideen if one misses the fasts intentionally, he had to make the Qadha of that fast and he will have to pay the Kaffarah. You do not have to fast for 60 days continuously, rather you will have the option to feed 60 poor people for every single fast missed.

Some of the rulings regarding the qada(missed) fasts according to  Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

Ruling 1630. The kaffārah for breaking a fast (ifṭār) unlawfully in the month of Ramadan is that the person must free a slave, or fast for two months in accordance with the instructions that will be mentioned in the next ruling, or feed sixty poor people (fuqarā) or give each one of them a mudd – which is approximately 750 grams – of food, i.e. wheat, barley, bread, or suchlike. In the event that none of these are possible for the person, he must give charity to the extent that he can. If this is not possible either, he must seek forgiveness from Allah; and the obligatory precaution is that he must give kaffārah whenever he is able to.

Ruling 1667. If someone has qadā fasts left over from a number of previous Ramadans, it does not matter which Ramadan he keeps qadā fasts for first. However, if the time for the qadā of the last Ramadan is short – for example, he has to keep five qadā fasts from the last month of Ramadan and only five days remain until the beginning of the next Ramadan – it is better that he keeps the qadā fasts for the last Ramadan first.

https://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2267/

Ruling 1694. Fasting is not obligatory on someone who, due to old age, cannot fast or finds fasting excessively difficult. However, in the latter case, for each day [that he does not fast] he must give one mudd of food – i.e. wheat, barley, bread, or suchlike – to a poor person.

Read “Those on whom fasting is not obligatory (wājib)” from the following link:  https://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2271/

 

May Allah(swt) grant you success

Wassalam,

Syed Haider