561 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them) said, “The very old man has been granted a concession: he may break the fast and instead feed one needy person for each day, and no make-up fast is required of him.” Reported by al-Dāraqutnī and al-Ḥākim, and both declared it authentic. (1)

Hadith grading
The report is authentic. Al-Ḥākim recorded it and judged it sound, and al-Dāraqutnī said, “Its chain is sound.” Al-Bukhārī also narrated it in similar wording (4235) through the route of ʿAṭāʾ from Ibn ʿAbbās, and it has supporting chains.
After examining this narration in all its routes and discussing them, Shaykh Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī concluded: “The hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās shows that a person unable to fast—whether because of extreme old age or a chronic illness—feeds one needy person for each day, and this ruling is sound. It is corroborated by the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar and Abū Hurayrah, recorded by Aḥmad (7367).”

Points derived from the hadith
The first revelation concerning the fast of Ramaḍān was Allah’s words: “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you …” (2:183) up to His words, “And upon those who can afford it is a ransom: feeding a needy person. And whoever volunteers more, it is better for him; but to fast is better for you, if you only knew” (2:184).
At the beginning, therefore, Muslims were given the choice either to fast or to refrain and pay the ransom—feeding one needy person for every missed day. Al-Bukhārī narrates (4237) from Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ that he said, “When the verse ‘… a ransom: feeding a needy person’ was revealed, he was…"