and is equivalent to wheat. Indeed, nowadays people consider it better than wheat. Thus, one mudd of rice suffices, and thirty days would require six sa's according to the present-day sa', because it equals five mudds plus a slight additional amount when measured by the Prophet’s mudd. One sa' would therefore suffice for five poor persons. This is one of the ways of providing food.

The second way is for you to prepare food yourself and invite poor people to it, corresponding to the number of days you owe.

Issue: If Ramadan passes while a person is ill, there are details to consider:

First: if recovery from his illness is expected, he should wait until he recovers, for Allah the Exalted says:

“Whoever is ill or on a journey, then let them make up an equal number of days later.”

If the illness continues until he dies, then nothing is due from him, because what was required of him was to make up the fasts, but he did not live to reach that point.

For example, a person contracts a cold during Ramadan—during its last ten days, for instance—and a cold is an illness from which recovery is expected. If his illness worsens and he then dies, he is not required to make up the fasts, because what was required of him was an equal number of days later, and he was unable to do so. His case is therefore like that of one who dies before living to see Ramadan: nothing is due from him.

Second: if recovery from his illness is expected, then he recovers afterward but dies before making up the fasts, one poor person should be fed on his behalf for each day after his death, from his estate or by someone who voluntarily undertakes it.

Third: if the illness he contracts is one from which recovery is not expected, then feeding is due from the outset, not as a substitute, because whoever breaks his fast due to an excuse that is not expected to cease must feed one poor person for each day, such as old age and illness