a poor person for each day, as stated in this verse. This was then abrogated by Allah Most High’s words:
“So whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it, and whoever is ill or on a journey must make up an equal number of other days.” [al-Baqarah: 185]
This is the position of Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, and all his companions. It has also been said that the verse remains unabrogated and concerns elderly men and women, nursing mothers, and pregnant women. This is reported in one narration from Ibn Abbās, may Allah Most High be pleased with them both. It is also reported that he and Ā’isha, may Allah Most High be pleased with her, read: “And for those who are burdened with it.” This reading means that they are required to fast but can manage it only with effort and hardship. The verse originally applied generally to these people and to healthy people who were not travelling. Its ruling concerning healthy people who were not travelling was then abrogated by Allah Most High’s words:
“So whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it.” [al-Baqarah: 185]
The verse remains unabrogated with respect to the others mentioned.
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The sick person who may refrain from fasting is one who cannot fast, or who can do so only with effort and hardship because of his illness. There is disagreement concerning someone who can fast without effort or hardship arising from his illness, but fears that fasting will aggravate it. One view permits him to refrain from fasting; this is the narration of Asbagh from Ibn al-Qāsim in al-Utbiyya. Another view does not permit it, because fasting is obligatory for him since he is able to do it, whereas the worsening of his illness that he fears is uncertain, and an obligatory duty may not be abandoned on the basis of doubt. The first view is more correct.
It has also been said that a sick person may refrain from fasting in all circumstances, so long as he can be described as ill, on the apparent meaning of Allah Most High’s words:
“So whoever among you is ill…” [al-Baqarah: 184]
It is reported that Tarīf ibn Tammām al-Utāridī visited Muhammad ibn Sīrīn while he was eating during Ramadan, but did not ask him about it. When Ibn Sīrīn had finished, he told him, “This finger of mine was hurting.”
The sounder view here is that the illness for which Allah has permitted a person not to fast is one that makes fasting unbearably strenuous, or that one fears fasting will aggravate.
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In the early days of Islam, anyone who fell asleep at night before eating could neither eat nor have intercourse for the rest of that night or the following day, until evening. This was also the practice of the People of the Book, as indicated by the words of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: