in the way of food, clothing, housing and the indispensable household furnishings, he must perform the manumission. He is not, however, obliged to sell a plot of land or capital property whose yield does not exceed his basic needs, nor his dwelling-house, nor—according to the sounder opinion—two valuable slaves to whom he has grown accustomed; nor is he required to pay an inflated price when purchasing a slave for this purpose. The strongest view is that a person’s financial ability is assessed at the moment he actually discharges the expiation.

If he is unable to free a slave, he must fast two consecutive lunar months, beginning and ending with the crescent, with the intention of fulfilling an expiation; the more correct position is that he need not explicitly intend continuity itself. Should he start in mid-month, he counts the next month by the crescent, then completes whatever remains of the first month with days from a third month until the total reaches thirty.

Continuity is broken if a single day is missed without excuse, and—according to the new opinion—also by illness, though not by menstruation; insanity likewise breaks it according to the preferred view.

If, because of advanced age or an illness that, in the view of most jurists, offers no hope of recovery, or because fasting would subject him to severe hardship or he fears his condition will worsen, he cannot fast, he expiates by feeding sixty needy Muslims—not unbelievers, nor members of the clans of Hāshim or al-Muṭṭalib—one mudd for each person, using the same staple that is given for the obligatory charity of breaking the fast (zakāt al-fiṭr).