Allah says:

﴿وَمَنْ كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ﴾

Meaning: Whoever is ill or travelling and does not fast must make up an equal number of days later. Allah intends ease for you, not hardship. [Al-Baqarah 2:185, excerpt]

Someone who misses a fast because of temporary illness or travel makes up that day when able. Taking a lawful concession in its proper circumstances is obedience, not weak faith. A desire to worship does not justify exposing oneself to serious harm.

An ill person may break the fast when fasting causes substantial hardship, is reasonably expected to worsen the illness or delay recovery, or prevents necessary treatment that breaks the fast and cannot safely wait until night. A mild illness that causes neither harm nor substantial hardship does not justify breaking the fast.

Risk may be established through clear experience, meaningful signs or a reliable medical assessment. A person does not have to wait for injury to occur. When continuing is reasonably expected to threaten life or cause serious harm, breaking the fast becomes obligatory. Ibn Baz distinguished between permission to break the fast and the obligation to do so when danger is feared.

If you take regular medicine, discuss fasting and your treatment plan with a doctor or pharmacist before Ramadan. Do not stop medicine or change its dose or timing yourself. Not every treatment breaks a fast: its medical effect and its religious classification are separate questions, each requiring the appropriate expertise.

Someone who qualifies as a traveller on a lawful journey may break the fast and make it up, even when travelling comfortably. Hamzah ibn 'Amr al-Aslami asked the Prophet about fasting while travelling. He replied:

«إِنْ شِئْتَ فَصُمْ وَإِنْ شِئْتَ فَأَفْطِرْ».

Meaning: Fast if you wish, or break your fast if you wish. Narrated by Muslim (1121).

A fast completed without harm is valid, and taking the concession is not sinful. Breaking the fast is preferable when fasting causes severe hardship, and obligatory when continuing is reasonably expected to threaten life or cause serious harm.

A resident does not begin using the travel concession merely by planning a journey or buying a ticket. Under Ibn Baz's ruling, it begins after leaving the built-up area of one's town on a qualifying journey. It does not continue after returning home or beginning a stay that ends traveller status. Scholars differ over details of qualifying distance and intended residence.

For airports, frequent journeys, intended stays and returning during the day, see Fasting When Sick or Travelling: When to Break the Fast and Make It Up.

A pregnant or breastfeeding woman who can fast without harm or substantial hardship, and has no other valid excuse, must fast. If fasting causes such hardship or there is a well-founded concern for her own health, her unborn child or her nursing infant, she may break the fast.

Anas ibn Malik al-Ka'bi reported that the Prophet said:

«إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَضَعَ عَنِ الْمُسَافِرِ نِصْفَ الصَّلَاةِ وَالصَّوْمَ وَعَنِ الْحُبْلَى وَالْمُرْضِعِ».

Meaning: Allah has lifted half the prayer and fasting from the traveller, and fasting from pregnant and breastfeeding women. Narrated by al-Nasa'i (2274). Al-Tirmidhi also narrated the report (715) and graded it hasan. It establishes the fasting concession; shortening four-rak'ah prayers to two applies to travel, not to pregnancy or breastfeeding alone. This narrator is Anas al-Ka'bi, not the Prophet's well-known servant Anas ibn Malik.

Discuss your circumstances with a qualified doctor or midwife. Another woman's ability to fast during pregnancy or breastfeeding does not tell you whether it is safe for you. When continuing is reasonably expected to threaten the mother or child with death or serious harm, she must break the fast to prevent that harm. Do not delay urgent care while waiting for sunset or an online answer.

Menstruation and postpartum bleeding are different: fasting during either is not valid, even if a woman feels strong. Missed Ramadan days are made up once the excuse has ended and she can fast. 'A'ishah explained that women were instructed to make up fasts missed during menstruation, but not prayers; narrated by Muslim (335). The same fasting rule applies to postpartum bleeding.

Qada means fasting a day in place of each missed day. Fidyah means feeding a poor person for each day in circumstances where feeding is prescribed. They are not interchangeable choices for everyone.

1. Someone who misses fasts because of an illness expected to improve makes up the days when able. Delayed recovery alone does not replace that duty with feeding.
2. Someone who misses fasts because of travel makes them up. Frequent travel does not turn the duty into feeding instead.
3. Pregnant and breastfeeding women make up their days when able, without additional feeding merely for this excuse, under Ibn Baz's view followed here. This applies whether the concern was for the woman or her child.
4. Someone unable to fast because of old age or illness, with no expected return of the ability to fast, feeds a poor person for each day. There is no qada while that lasting incapacity remains.

Explaining the fidyah verse, Ibn 'Abbas said:

«هُوَ الشَّيْخُ الْكَبِيرُ وَالْمَرْأَةُ الْكَبِيرَةُ لَا يَسْتَطِيعَانِ أَنْ يَصُومَا، فَلْيُطْعِمَانِ مَكَانَ كُلِّ يَوْمٍ مِسْكِينًا».

Meaning: It concerns an elderly man or woman unable to fast, who should feed a poor person for each day. Narrated by al-Bukhari (4505), as Ibn 'Abbas's statement. Scholars apply this ruling to lasting illness that prevents fasting. A diagnosis described as chronic does not, by itself, mean someone can never fast or make up days; the actual ability matters.

Why Are There Different Answers About Pregnancy and Breastfeeding?

Qada without feeding is not a unanimous view. Some scholars require feeding alongside qada when the concern is for the child alone, a recognised position among Shafi'i and Hanbali scholars. Feeding without qada is also reported from some early scholars. This overview follows Ibn Baz's choice of qada when able, without feeding merely for the pregnancy or breastfeeding excuse.

If you previously followed a different fatwa, do not combine rulings yourself or decide what earlier actions require without the relevant details. Explain your circumstances and the advice you followed to a reliable scholar. See Fasting During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: When May You Break the Fast and What Is Owed? for the detailed discussion, continuing excuses and postpartum bleeding.

Record each missed day and each day made up. If a traveller misses four days or an ill person misses seven, each makes up the same number missed, not two consecutive months. Breaking the fast for these lawful excuses does not require that major expiation.

You may make up days separately and choose shorter days when no valid excuse prevents fasting. Qada is obligatory fasting, so intend it in your heart before dawn, as taught in Hafsah's report in Abu Dawud (2454), authenticated by al-Albani. No spoken formula is required.

Do not schedule qada on either Eid day or the days of Tashriq, the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth of Dhul Hijjah. The Tashriq fasting concession concerns a pilgrim unable to offer the prescribed hady sacrifice, not making up Ramadan. See al-Bukhari (1991, 1997).

If your excuse ends before dawn and no other excuse remains, you must fast that day of Ramadan. Having missed earlier days does not extend the concession to the rest of the month; those earlier days remain to be made up.

Complete qada before the following Ramadan if able. When illness or a valid pregnancy or breastfeeding excuse continues and prevents this, the excused delay is not sinful; the days remain owed until you can fast. If another Ramadan begins and you can fast, observe the current Ramadan, then resume the earlier qada afterwards.

Someone who could have made up the days but delayed without an excuse until another Ramadan must repent and make them up. Ibn Baz also required feeding a poor person for each day in this case. That additional feeding is disputed; in his ruling, it is due to negligent delay while able, not simply to having used a lawful fasting concession.

For food quantities, feeding versus a general donation, and delayed qada, see Making Up Missed Ramadan Fasts, Fidyah and Kaffarah: Key Rulings.

Before Ramadan, discuss any health concerns with your clinician and check the rulings relevant to your journey if you will be travelling. Keep a record of missed days and those you have made up, so you know what remains when you are able to fast.