given the choice between fasting and breaking the fast and offering compensatory feeding. Allah Most High gave them this choice so that it would not be burdensome for them, since they had not been accustomed to fasting. He then abrogated that choice, and the definitive command was revealed in His saying: “So whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it.”

Qatadah said: “It applied specifically to the elderly person ⦗25/b⦘ who is able to fast, but finds it difficult. He was granted the concession to break his fast and offer compensatory feeding; then this was abrogated.” Al-Hasan said: “It concerned the sick person whose condition warrants the designation of illness, yet who is able to fast. He was given the choice between fasting and breaking his fast and offering compensatory feeding. Then it was abrogated by His saying: ‘So whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it.’”

The concession remained in force for those who are unable to fast. A group held that the verse is definitive and not abrogated. Its meaning, according to them, is: those who had been able to fast in their youth but became incapable of it in old age must offer compensatory feeding in place of fasting. Ibn ʿAbbas recited it as yuṭawwaqūnahu, with the yāʾ vowelled with ḍammah, the ṭāʾ with fatḥah and ungeminated, and the wāw with fatḥah and geminated—that is, “those who are burdened with fasting.” Its interpretation concerns the elderly man and elderly woman who are unable to fast, and the sick person from whose illness no recovery is hoped. They are charged with fasting but are unable to do so; therefore, they may break their fast and feed one poor person for each day. This was the view of Saʿid ibn Jubayr, who regarded the verse as definitive.

His saying: “A compensatory feeding: the feeding of a poor person.” The people of Medina and Syria recited this in the construct form. Likewise, in Surat al-Ma’idah, they recited: “an expiation: the feeding of…” Thus, they annexed compensatory feeding to food, even though they are one and the same, because the two expressions differ—just as in His saying, “and the grain of the harvest” (9-q), and as in the expressions “the congregational mosque” and “the first Rabiʿ.” The others recited fidyatun and kaffāratun with tanwin, with “food” in the nominative case. Here, the people of Medina and Syria recited “poor persons” in the plural, while the others recited it in the singular. Whoever recited it in the plural placed the final nūn in the accusative; whoever recited it in the singular placed it in the genitive and gave it tanwin.

Compensatory feeding is recompense. For every day, he must feed one poor person one mudd of food according to the Prophet’s mudd, which is one and one-third ratls, from the staple food of the land. This was the view of the jurists of the Hijaz. Some of the jurists of Iraq said that, for every day on which he breaks his fast, he must give each poor person half a saʿ. Some of them said: half a saʿ of wheat, or a full saʿ of another foodstuff. Some jurists said: he should give what the person breaking the fast would have eaten for sustenance on the day he broke it. Ibn ʿAbbas said: “He should give each poor person his evening meal and his pre-dawn meal.”

“Whoever voluntarily does extra good, it is better for him”: that is, whoever goes beyond feeding one poor person and feeds two or more poor persons for each day. This was stated by Mujahid, ʿAtaʾ, and Tawus. It was also said: whoever exceeds the amount due from him—for example, giving a saʿ when only a mudd is due—then that is better for him.

“And fasting is better for you.” Those who held that the ruling was abrogated said that this means: fasting is better for him than compensatory feeding. It was also said that this concerns the elderly person: if he undertakes fasting, even though it is difficult for him, it is better for him than breaking his fast and offering compensatory feeding—“if only you knew.” Know that no legally responsible believer has a concession to break the Ramadan fast except in one of three cases: one for whom both making up the fast and expiation are required; a second for whom making up the fast is required without expiation; and a third for whom expiation is required without making up the fast. As for the one for whom both making up the fast and expiation are required, it is the pregnant woman