Is the fasting for expiation three days: consecutive or separate?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is the fasting for expiation three days consecutive or separate? Is the fasting for expiation three days consecutive or separate?

Answer:
Allah did not command the consecutiveness of fasting three days, and He did not say "consecutive." Yes, there is a reading that includes it, but it is weak. It is the reading of "fasting three consecutive days," but this reading is not established, so it is not acted upon. One acts according to the general statement, whether consecutive or separate; the important thing is that you fast three days. Yes.