If the month of Ramadan comes upon a Muslim who is ill and he does not fast, then he dies, is expiation obligatory upon his guardian, or what is the ruling?

The questioner : If the month of Ramadan comes upon a Muslim who is ill with an illness that prevents him from fasting, and then death takes him and he goes to his Lord, is expiation obligatory upon his heirs, or what is the ruling?

The Shaykh : Nothing explicit has been established regarding this matter, although there is his statement (peace and blessings be upon him) in the two Sahihs: The Shafi'is have adopted this view and made it obligatory for the guardian of the deceased in such a question to fast the days of Ramadan that he missed due to his illness. However, what is stronger in our view is what Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) adopted, following... the hadith I mentioned earlier: One of its narrators is Abdullah ibn Abbas, and he interpreted this hadith as being applicable to the fasting of a vow. So if a person vows to fast a day or more and then does not fulfill it, then the aforementioned hadith applies: his guardian fasts on his behalf. As for the fasting that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) directly obligated upon the Muslims for their purification and cleansing, here the fundamental principle in Islam applies: whoever purifies himself purifies himself for his own sake. But if a person imposes an obligation upon himself that Allah did not impose upon him, in the form of a vow, then it is this to which the aforementioned hadith applies. And explicit hadiths have come regarding this: a woman asked the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that her sister or brother had died and he had a vow of fasting upon him, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So explicit hadiths came in the question and answer regarding the fasting of a vow, and Ibn Abbas, who is one of the narrators of this hadith as we said, applied it to the fasting of a vow. This is what we see, and Allah knows best.

The questioner : Meaning, if he died and did not... is the fasting dropped from him?

The Shaykh : First, he did not say voluntary fasting, meaning he died in Ramadan, that is what I understood. Now we divide the previous question and answer into two parts. The first part is a man who is ill in Ramadan, dies in Ramadan, and has days of Ramadan remaining. My previous statement applies to this.
Another scenario is a person who broke his fast for days in Ramadan while he was ill, then recovered afterwards and did not make up what he owed, and he is able to do so. We do not say that anyone can fast on his behalf for this... it is like the one who breaks his fast in Ramadan intentionally and deliberately; he is like the one who abandons prayer intentionally and deliberately. There is no expiation for him at all. But the one who is excused, who dies ill and is unable to make up the days of Ramadan he missed, our previous statement applies to him. As for a person who intentionally breaks his fast in Ramadan, or did not intend it but was ill and weak, and Allah knows best about his intention, and then when... he was cured and recovered, and days passed, or perhaps the month and months passed, and he did not make it up, then it is not made up for him at all.