This fourth view is, in my opinion, the strongest of the views, because at most they are like the sick person and the traveller, and therefore they are only required to make up the fasts. As for Ibn Abbas’s silence—may Allah be pleased with him—regarding making up the fasts, this is because it is already understood.
As for the hadith, “Indeed, Allah the Exalted has waived fasting for the pregnant woman and the nursing woman,” what is meant is the obligation of performing the fast on time; they must still make up the fasts.
The reason for the disagreement is that there is no decisive, authentic, and explicit text requiring any one of these obligations.
Question: If someone were to ask: What if a person breaks his fast for the welfare of someone else, in a case other than that of the pregnant or nursing woman—for example, he breaks his fast to rescue a drowning person or extinguish a fire? Must he make up the fast and feed a needy person?
Answer: According to the view we have deemed strongest—that the pregnant and nursing women are required only to make up the fasts—the rescuer is likewise required only to make up the fast. But according to the view that they must both make up the fasts and feed a needy person in their respective case, there are two views concerning him:
The first view: He must make up the fast and feed a needy person, by analogy with the pregnant and nursing women when they break their fasts for the welfare of the child.
The second view: He is required only to make up the fast. The evidence cited for this is that the text mentions only the pregnant and nursing women, and no one else.
The response to this is that, even if the text mentions them specifically, the analogy in this case is complete: he broke his fast for the welfare of another person.
Breaking one’s fast for the welfare of another has several forms, including:
- Rescuing a drowning person—for example, when a person whose life is inviolable falls into the water, and he cannot