Answer: If you are unable to fast—whether in the first instance or as make-ups—because of a chronic illness and the doctors have determined that fasting is impossible, would subject you to unbearable hardship, or would aggravate the disease, then you must feed one needy person for every missed day, and that discharges the obligation in place of fasting. Should Allah later heal you and you become able, you must make up the days you owe. If the condition persists, feeding alone suffices: for each day you give one needy person half a ṣāʿ of wheat or another staple, according to the number of days missed. Allah knows best.

Feeding does not require distributing to more than one needy person
Question: I heard on the programme Nūr ʿalā al-Darb (Light on the Path) an answer stating that the food compensation must not be given to a single needy person; rather, each day should be given to a different person. In another reply to a woman who owed make-up fasts from several years ago because she had been experiencing postpartum bleeding and pregnancy, a scholar said that if she had no valid excuse she must make up the fasts and feed the poor—and that even if she gathered the total amount and gave it to one needy person, it would suffice. I too have had make-up fasts outstanding for several years because I did not fast during menstruation. I accumulated the required food and gave it to a single needy person. Allah knows my intention was not to seek the easier opinion, but the lack of needy people left me no alternative. Am I at fault?

Answer: I do not know of any evidence stipulating that the food compensation for delayed make-up fasts must be distributed to more than one needy person. Allah, exalted is He, says: “And upon those who are able to fast only with difficulty, a ransom: feeding one needy person.” (Qur’an 2:184). Since she has already given the food to one needy person, I hope that this is sufficient, Allah willing.