What is the concept of atonement in islam? What happens if you miss a fast intentionally? Do you fast during atonement? What is the punishment for breaking fast? What are the types of atonement?
The penalty for intentionally breaking a Ramadan fast that started in the month of Ramadan is the necessity of atonement in addition to making it up. The atonement of fasting, as in the atonement of ẓihār, is carried out in one of the three ways respectively, a) Freeing a slave, b) Fasting for two consecutive months, and c) Feeding sixty poor people. Since there is no more slavery, it is necessary to take one of the second or third ways as a basis. Here, it is essential to follow the order between the two ways. A person who thinks that he cannot fast for two months feeds sixty poor people at once or on separate days and if he is unable to do so, he should repent to Allah Almighty and ask forgiveness. Accordingly, the ruling on atonement fasting is obligatory only because of intentionally breaking a fast that started in the month of Ramadan. There is no need for atonement for breaking any fast except Ramadan, but it requires only qaḍā.
The reason for the atonement is to violate the dignity of the month of Ramadan and for ignoring it. However, atonement is not required for a person who breaks the fast out of forgetfulness, unknowingly or based on speculative knowledge. According to the Ḥanafis and the Malikis, breaking the fast, which requires atonement, occurs in Ramadan with acts such as intentional sexual intercourse and eating and drinking.
According to the Malikis, kaffarah is obligatory in one of the above-mentioned three ways. Following the order is not required. If a person wishes, he can feed sixty poor people, which is the most virtuous, or fast for sixty days, or free a slave.
If the atonement fast is interrupted by a valid excuse such as menstruation, post-partum bleeding, and Eid, it is not necessary to start over again, it is continued from where it left off.
It is sufficient to pay a single atonement for breaking the fast on different days before the atonement is paid for intentionally breaking the fast. Even if this situation belongs to two separate Ramadans, this is the case according to the sound view. If an atonement payment has intervened, according to a sound narration, a single atonement will not be sufficient.
A person who is incapable of paying kaffarah will not owe atonement. He will do it in whatever form of payment he can afford.
Atonement becomes invalid due to the emergence of an excuse such as menstruation, postpartum bleeding, or an illness that makes it permissible to break the fast on the day the fast is broken. For the same day does not acknowledge disintegration for atonement, both in terms of being determined and not determined.[17]
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications