—this one by neglecting the make-up altogether, and that one by eating on a day when eating is prohibited. The analogy they invoke would carry force only if the Lawgiver had, by explicit text, fixed a specific period for making up the fast, for the times allotted for performance are indeed delineated in the Sharīʿah.
Yet a fringe group has maintained that if a person’s illness continues until another Ramadan arrives, he need not make up the missed days at all—an opinion that flatly contradicts the revealed text.
Should a person die while still owing fast-days, the jurists hold several opinions:
• Some say that no one may fast on behalf of anyone else.
• Others say that his legal guardian (walī) should fast for him.
• Those who do not obligate fasting hold that the guardian must instead feed the poor on his behalf; this is the position of al-Shāfiʿī.
• Some state that neither fasting nor feeding is required unless the deceased expressly bequeathed it; this is the view of Mālik.
• Abū Ḥanīfah says that the guardian should fast, and if he is unable, he should feed.
• Still others distinguish between a vowed fast and the obligatory fast of Ramadan, saying that the guardian may fast for him in the case of a vow but not for the obligatory fast.
The root of their disagreement is the tension between analogy and transmitted evidence. It is authentically reported from ʿĀʾishah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever dies owing fast-days, his guardian is to fast on his behalf,” a report recorded by Muslim. Likewise, Ibn ʿAbbās relates:
“A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, my mother has died owing a month’s fast; shall I fulfill it on her behalf?’ He replied, ‘If your mother had a debt, would you settle it for her?’ The man answered, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘The debt owed to Allah is even more deserving of settlement.’”
Those who consider foundational principles to outweigh these reports argue that, just as no one may pray or perform ablution for another, so too no one may fast for another; they therefore deny any obligation upon the guardian. Those who give precedence to the textual evidence oblige the guardian to fast. Others, setting aside the texts in this matter, restrict the obligation to vowed fasts, while some extend the ruling analogically to Ramadan and require fasting on the deceased’s behalf in that month as well.
Those who make feeding obligatory base themselves on the reading of the verse, “And upon those who are able to fast, but with hardship, a ransom is due” (al-Baqarah 2:184). Those who offer a choice between fasting and feeding do so in an attempt to reconcile the verse with the prophetic reports.
Such, then, are the rulings concerning the traveler and the sick—two categories to whom both fasting and breaking the fast are permitted.
Rulings Concerning the Nursing Mother, the Pregnant Woman, and the Elderly
As for the rest of this category—the nursing mother, the pregnant woman, and the elderly—two well-known issues arise. The first is: if the pregnant or nursing woman breaks her fast, what is required of her?
On this question the scholars hold four views:
- They must feed the poor and are not required to make up the fast; this is narrated from Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās.