Then, if you are later able to make up the fasts, you are obliged to do so, for Allah the Exalted says, “then an equal number of other days” (al-Baqarah 2:184). If, however, you are unable to make them up because the illness is chronic and no recovery is expected, you must feed one poor person for every day missed. The amount is approximately one and a half kilograms of staple food for each day. This applies only when you are incapable of making up the fast, because the illness is permanent. A person with a chronic illness and a very elderly man who can no longer bear fasting may both break the fast and feed the poor, and no making up is required of them.

But if you hope to recover, or the illness is expected to lessen, or there is a time of the year when your condition eases and you can fast, then postpone the fast until that period. If none of these possibilities exists, feed one poor person for each day and that will suffice, for Allah says, “And upon those who are able to do it [only with hardship] is a fidya: feeding a poor person” (al-Baqarah 2:184). The verse includes the person whose illness is not expected to be cured.

Question: I suffer from diabetes, a stomach ailment, and also a psychological illness—may Allah heal me. I have been unable to fast, so I give money as an expiation. Is that sufficient, or is anything else required of me?

Answer: May Allah cure you of what has afflicted you and help you fulfill what He has made obligatory upon you. As for breaking the fast because of illness, that is permissible and there is no sin in it, for Allah has granted the sick person a concession to refrain from fasting when it is difficult for him or would aggravate the illness, and He has commanded him to make up the days he missed during a period