[Ramadan FAQs] Ruling on PREGNANT or BREAST FEEDING women FASTING and the COMPENSATION? It may be permissible, obligatory or prohibited for a pregnant woman to NOT fast. It is PERMISSIBLE for her not to fast if fasting is too difficult for her. It becomes OBLIGATORY for her not to fast if fasting will cause harm to her or her baby. If a pregnant woman or a nursing mother does not fear any harm on herself or her child from fasting, then it becomes PROHIBITED to not fast. If a woman fears for her well-being or the well-being of her fetus or baby based on professional advice, then she has a concession to break her fast based on the following words of the Prophet (peace be upon him): “Allah has exempted women from fasting and praying during their menses and exempted them from fasting when pregnant or nursing." (Abu Dawud) There is disagreement among the scholars about the how to compensate for the missed days. One opinion is that she must make the days only. A second opinion is that she needs to feed a poor person for each missed day without fasting (Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn ‘Umar). The third opinion states that if fasting is difficult for her, then she only has to re-fast the missed days. In this way, she is the same as a sick person. However, if she fears harm on her baby and not on herself (or if she fears her breast milk will run dry), then she has to feed a poor person as expiation and make up the fasts that she missed (Hanbali school of thought). The opinion of MAKING UP THE DAYS ONLY seems to be the most correct opinion, as is the case of those who were sick and for travelers, because Allah says: “But if any of you is ill or on a journey, the same number (should be made up) from other days.”[Al- Baqarah, 2:184] A woman may space out the make-up days. This means she does not have to fast them all at once. The days must be made up before the next Ramadan comes, but if she has a valid reason not to make them up before the next Ramadan (e.g. sickness), then she may delay them up until she is able to do so. And Allah knows best.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 05:46:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015