The ruling on using the feeding of expiations to break the fast of those fasting
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The chapter on li'an (mutual oath-swearing in an accusation of adultery).
The Shaykh:
It is sufficient to state the conclusion.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to use the feeding required for expiations to break the fast of those fasting in the month of Ramadan?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter of disagreement among the scholars. Is it necessary that the feeding be in the form of foodstuffs, such that a foodstuff is given to the poor person, who may then do with it as he wishes—eat it, sell it, or keep it? This is the default ruling: that it be from grain or from dates, from grain or from dates, which the poor person acquires and disposes of as he sees fit. This is the position of a group of the people of knowledge, who hold that cooked food does not suffice, because cooked food can only be disposed of by eating it; one does not store it for a need nor sell it. Therefore, they stipulate that the feeding be from wheat, meaning from grain or from dates, and not from cooked food. The second opinion is that some of the people of knowledge held that if one provides breakfast or dinner to the poor people, equal in number to the poor people, whether he feeds them breakfast or dinner, then that suffices. This is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and a group of the people of knowledge, because it is true to say of him that he fed the poor people; it is true to say of him that he fed the poor people.
So the correct view, and the view of others as well, is that if one feeds sixty poor people in the expiation for zihar, or ten poor people in the expiation for an oath, then that suffices according to what a group of the most precise scholars chose, whether they are fasting or not fasting. The important thing is that he feeds them and satisfies their hunger, and that it be restricted to justice and that they be from the poor. As for breaking the fast of the fasting people who gather together, that is not regulated; the rich get it, the poor get it, and it has even reached us that there are disbelievers among them who eat with the fasting people. That is not regulated. But if he gathers the poor people and provides them with dinner or breakfast equal to the number that Allah has prescribed, that suffices. Yes. As for the gathering that is not regulated and whose number is not restricted, that does not absolve the obligation. Yes.
The chapter on li'an (mutual oath-swearing in an accusation of adultery).
The Shaykh:
It is sufficient to state the conclusion.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to use the feeding required for expiations to break the fast of those fasting in the month of Ramadan?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter of disagreement among the scholars. Is it necessary that the feeding be in the form of foodstuffs, such that a foodstuff is given to the poor person, who may then do with it as he wishes—eat it, sell it, or keep it? This is the default ruling: that it be from grain or from dates, from grain or from dates, which the poor person acquires and disposes of as he sees fit. This is the position of a group of the people of knowledge, who hold that cooked food does not suffice, because cooked food can only be disposed of by eating it; one does not store it for a need nor sell it. Therefore, they stipulate that the feeding be from wheat, meaning from grain or from dates, and not from cooked food. The second opinion is that some of the people of knowledge held that if one provides breakfast or dinner to the poor people, equal in number to the poor people, whether he feeds them breakfast or dinner, then that suffices. This is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and a group of the people of knowledge, because it is true to say of him that he fed the poor people; it is true to say of him that he fed the poor people.
So the correct view, and the view of others as well, is that if one feeds sixty poor people in the expiation for zihar, or ten poor people in the expiation for an oath, then that suffices according to what a group of the most precise scholars chose, whether they are fasting or not fasting. The important thing is that he feeds them and satisfies their hunger, and that it be restricted to justice and that they be from the poor. As for breaking the fast of the fasting people who gather together, that is not regulated; the rich get it, the poor get it, and it has even reached us that there are disbelievers among them who eat with the fasting people. That is not regulated. But if he gathers the poor people and provides them with dinner or breakfast equal to the number that Allah has prescribed, that suffices. Yes. As for the gathering that is not regulated and whose number is not restricted, that does not absolve the obligation. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب الرجعة، وباب الإيلاء والظهار والكفارة — islamhouse.com (45:27)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.