until the time of the next prayer without an excuse.

If someone were to say: Aishah’s statement, “I would not be able to make them up except in Shaban,” proves that making up the fasts immediately is obligatory for one who is able, we reply: Had that been legally obligatory, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not have allowed her to leave them. The ability referred to here is legal ability—namely, consideration for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and being a good wife to him—not physical ability.

If he does so, then along with making them up, he must feed one needy person for each day …

His statement, “If he does so, then along with making them up, he must feed one needy person for each day,” means that if he delays making up the fasts until after the following Ramadan without an excuse, he is sinful and must, along with making them up, feed one needy person for each day.

As for the obligation to make them up, this is because they are a debt owed by him which he has not discharged, and so he must make them up.

As for feeding others, it is a compensation for his failure in allowing the prescribed time to lapse. Thus, for every day he makes up, he feeds one needy person. If, for example, he owes six days, he fasts them and feeds six needy persons along with them. A hadith traced back to the Prophet ﷺ has been narrated concerning this, stating that he commanded feeding others along with making up the fasts for one who delayed them until after Ramadan (1). However, it is a very weak hadith: no proof can be established by it, nor can an obligation be imposed on the basis of it.

It has also been narrated from Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with them, that feeding others is required (2). What has been reported from them is to be understood as meaning that this was among