cannot always buy your way out

Q: Asalam wo Allikum
I am pregnant women  and I could not fast during holy Ramadan.

general rules to fasting

Q:  Assalamu aleikun, Sheikh Mehtar,
Thank you in advance for answering my questions.  This will be my first year to observe Ramadan.  It is not my desire to be a “cafeteria Muslim” to pick and choose which parts of the faith to observe and which guidelines to follow.  My questions regarding Ramadan  are:  1)is drinking of water allowable during the

Asthmatic pump

Question: I am an asthma patient. Does using the pump negate my fast?

fidyah and fasting – follow up

Comment box:

Question: Jazakallahu khair for the clarification.
Okay so I missed 12 days of fasting,
and say I invite a miskeen for dinner for x amount of days would that be considered fidya?
basically how many days of fidya would I have to do to be cleared for my 12missed days?

Response: Option one: Do the following:

Calculate 12 days x 1.632 kilograms of wheat in financial value.

Option one: Invite 12 poor people and feed them to their fill, or give them each a meal voucher. Obviously 12 vouchers would have to be given.

Option two: If your health permits, just keep the 12 missed fast, (and save your money.)

Option three: feed the 12 people. Then when you have reached peak health performance, keep the missed 12 fasts.

Allah Certainly Knows Best.

(Option two generally can work best)

Fasting and fidya

Questions:
Assalamu Alaykum rahmatullahi wabarakatu,

I attended your Tafseer class on Friday the 15th.
It was on the subject of Fasting. Alhamdulilah it was a good class and benefited a lot from it. I have a few questions pertaining to the things you have said:
“…sickness of a person allows them to be excused from fasting. If fasting is difficult due to health concerns,  the non-fasting person can merely feed a miskeen.  Miskeen person is defined as one who does not have wealth, in debt, have less amount of ‘miswab’? (Please define the term miskeen and help make the above statements clear for me)”

I was sick for awhile during Ramadan I still have not made up my fasting days. So if I do the above things I’m cleared? And how much wheat must I give.
Jazakallahu Khair

Answer:

وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته

A person suffering from an illness, and it is such an illness that makes fasting impossible, or such fasting would contribute to greater deterioration of health — in such circumstances a person would be excused from fasting and would have to give fidya to a miskeen. (Derived from ayah which was covered)

Who is a Miskeen

A miskeen is a poor person. A poor person is defined in Islam as that individual whose finances does not have a total asset worth reaching the  nisab. Should you want to know the definition of nisab, merely go here: https://islaminaction.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/what-is-the-nisaab

By when do i make it all up?

Although there is no time limit to making up a fast, it is best for a person to make up for their missed fasts (salah, etc) as soon as they have recovered from an illness. Should an individual not have recovered from an illness, then they would merely have to give what is called the fidya.

What constitutes fidya?

One form of calculation for fidya is in accordance to the measurement of 1.632 kilograms of wheat or its dollar value in equivalence as observed in regular stores (market place.) One need not give the total fidya amount to a single poor person. One can spread it out in such a manner that each poor person gets to consume the value in equivalence of the 1.632 kilograms of wheat.  This is the best manner to dispense the fidya. It does not mean that one MUST give only wheat; one can give its equivalence of monetary value to a poor person as well. For example, a dinner of similar or higher value of the wheat amount described above can also be given.

And if i got no money?

Should a person not have sufficient resources to give to a poor person, then insha-Allah, Allah would forgive you, insha-Allah.

What is the best thing to do?

Once you have paid your fidya and have later been blessed with good health, then merely try to keep the missed fast.  Although fidyah may absolve you,fasting would still be the better (afzal) thing for you to do.

Allah Certainly Knows Best.

Fasting and diabetes

Q. My friend is suffering from diabetes. According to doctors he should not fast. My friend was recommended not to fast. So my friend thought it best to feed a poor Muslim person everyday the very same food he has had cooked for himself when not fasting. Is this the correct thing to do? please recommend is what is taking place is correct or not.

A. According to Shariah, if one is unable to fast due to poor health, then the individual will be excused from fasting. Your friend will offer the Fidyah to those that are needy. Fidyah is defined as feeding one poor person one meal for every fast missed. Fidyah could also be given in cash according to the Sadqadul Fitr amount of your country for each missed fast.
Should your friend recover, which insha-Allah shall take place, then they can (if they wish) make up for the missed fast even though fidyah had been given.

Surely Allah Knows Best