What is the fidya for fasting? Can i give fidya instead of fasting? What is the monetary compensation? Who is eligible for fidya? How much is fidya per day?
The following is stated in the Qur’an regarding the monetary compensation of fasting, “And upon those who are able to fast, but with hardship – a ransom as a substitute of feeding a poor person each day.”[1] Ibn Abbas (ra) said, “This verse was revealed to make it easy for old people. Fasting is farḍ. It is permissible for a farḍ to fall by making it up, as well as by payment of monetary compensation.”[2] The expression “who are able to fast, but with hardship” includes the destitute elderly, as well as the sick who have no hope of recovery. The proof of this is the following verse: “Allah has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty.”[3] Accordingly, the verse stipulates that the elderly, who cannot fast, and the sick who have no hope of recovery, give fidya in place of fasting that they cannot observe, and explains the amount of the fidya as “feeding a poor person” each day.
The sick and the elderly, whose body is weakening day by day, can feed a poor person for each day they could not observe, or they can give the fidya enough to feed a poor person in cash or goods at the beginning or end of the month of Ramadan. If they cannot pay this fidya in their lifetime, they must bequeath it to be paid after their death. If such a will is made and one-third of the inheritance is sufficient to fulfill it, the heirs must pay this fidya to the poor. If there is no will or one-third of the inheritance property does not cover it, it is recommended that the heirs pay it as a donation. According to the Shafiʿis, fidya must be paid out of the entire inheritance whether there is a will left or not.
The form of compensation for fasting by means of fidya is reserved for those who cannot fast due to constant illness and old age and does not include those who do not fast on time, with or without an excuse, except for these two situations. However, if these people die without making up for the fasting they owed, it is permissible and even mandūb for the heirs to give fidya for these fasts in the same way. Because although the responsible worshiper shows a deficiency in delaying making up the fasting, death eliminates the possibility to make up the fasts owed and it turns out to be a kind of “inability to make it up”.
The fidya of the fasts that cannot be observed can be given to many poor people, as well as the total amount of the fidya can be given to one poor person. According to Abu Yusuf, it is also possible to divide a single fidya among several poor.
Since it was impractical to actually feed the poor through fidya, it initially needed to be paid in the form of a certain amount of food. According to the Ḥanafis, the amount of fidya, which is equal to a poor person’s satisfaction, is half a ṣāʿ of wheat and one ṣāʿ of barley, dates, or raisins.[4] The amount of the fidya for fasting is equal to the amount of the zakāt al-fiṭr. Today, the money or monetary value that can feed the poor for a day should be determined as the minimum amount, taking into account the social and economic level of the society, and the responsible worshipper should consider his own social status when determining his own amount above this minimum limit.
According to the majority of jurists other than the Ḥanafis, those who show negligence in Ramadan fast by not making it up within one year are required to make it up together with the payment of fidya within the following period. Here, the situation is compared to a person who intentionally breaks his fast. For both of them underestimated the dignity of fasting. Those who delay the making up of fasting to sometime after the next Ramadan due to excuses such as illness, travel, mental illness, menstruation, and postpartum bleeding do not have to pay fidya.
[1] Al-Baqara, 2: 184. [2] See Ibn Kathīr, Muhtaṣar Tafsir, 7th ed., Beirut 1402/1981, I, 159, 160; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, II, 687. [3] Al-Ḥajj, 22: 78. [4] One ṣāʿ, in comparison to the religious dirham, is 2.917 kg, and, in comparison to the customary dirham, is 3.333 kg.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications