to make a bequest to that effect. If, however, he was excused by illness or travel until another Ramadan began, nothing further is required of him.
No one may fast on behalf of a deceased person—whether to fulfil a vow or for any other purpose—regardless of whether the one fasting is the deceased’s legal heir or not.
We consider it preferable that the missed days of Ramadan be made up consecutively, yet if one separates them he has still discharged the obligation.
A nocturnal emission does not invalidate the fast, whereas menstruation does. Should a woman begin to menstruate at any point during the day, her fast is nullified and she must make up that day. Likewise, whoever enters the morning in a state of janāba (major ritual impurity), or a woman who became pure from her menses during the night, and each of them intends to fast before performing the ghusl (ritual bath), the fast is unharmed according to Mālik and Ibn al-Qāsim.
ʿAbd al-Malik said: If a menstruating woman becomes pure before dawn but delays her ghusl until after daybreak, that day counts as a day of non-fasting, because for part of it she was not in a state of purity. She is therefore unlike the person who wakes up in janāba and then fasts, for a nocturnal emission does not break the fast whereas menstruation does. This is how Abū al-Faraj relates his view.
He then added: Muḥammad ibn Maslama held that if she negligently postpones the ghusl until daybreak, she should still fast that day. Ibn al-Jallāb reports from ʿAbd al-Malik that if she attains purity before dawn at a time when she could have performed the ghusl but, through negligence, puts it off until sunrise, her fast remains sound, making her analogous to the person in janāba. However, if the remaining time before dawn was too short for her to perform the ghusl, her fast is invalid. In that latter case, Muḥammad ibn Maslama said she should fast the day and then make it up. Such is Ibn al-Jallāb’s report from them both.
The soundest opinion on this question is that of Mālik and Ibn al-Qāsim; it is endorsed by most of Mālik’s followers and by the overwhelming majority of scholars at large.