A woman asks: I broke my fast in Ramadan in the year 1403 AH, and I do not know the exact number of days, but they do not exceed fifteen days, and I have not made them up until now, and

The questioner : A woman asks: I broke my fast in Ramadan in the year 1403 AH, and I do not know the exact number of days, but they do not exceed fifteen days, and I have not made them up until now. The reason I broke my fast was that I was occupied with exams and tests, and I could not concentrate while fasting. So, do I have to make up the fast and pay expiation for the fasting, and what is the amount of the expiation?

The Shaykh : Yes, first of all, what happened to this woman, which is delaying the question regarding an act of worship from the obligatory duties of Islam, is considered a great error. It happens to everyone. One person comes to you and says, "I performed Hajj twenty years ago, but I did not perform the Sa'y until five circuits." How is it that after twenty years you are only asking now? I do not excuse a person for this at all, except that we make the excuse the awakening of people today. People in the past did not value things and took matters as they were. But when the awakening began, praise be to Allah, and people started to question, they began to ask about acts of worship they had neglected for long periods of time.
This woman says that she left fasting in the year one thousand four hundred and three. How long has it been? Seven years. It is negligence in reality. So, the obligatory thing for her, first, is to seek forgiveness from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for this delay, the delay in asking.
And secondly, we say: The legal rule that every student of knowledge must understand is that time-bound acts of worship are not valid before their time or after it, unless the delay of their time is due to a legal excuse, in which case they are made up afterwards. Did you understand the rule now? "Time-bound acts of worship are not valid before their time or after it, unless the delay of their time is due to a legal excuse, in which case they are made up" Did you understand the rule now?
Now, what is obligatory for you to say? It is obligatory to say, "What is the evidence?" Because this rule is important. The evidence that it is not valid before the time or after it is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): If you prayed the midday prayer before the sun passed its zenith, it is not valid. Why? Because it is not in accordance with the command of Allah and His Messenger. And if you delayed the midday prayer until the time of the afternoon prayer entered without an excuse, it is not valid. Why? Because it is not in accordance with the command of Allah and His Messenger. Now, if you prayed the dawn prayer in the last third of the night, is it valid or not? It is not valid. If you prayed the dawn prayer after the sun rose? It is not valid. The evidence is: What is the evidence that if he delays it without an excuse, he makes it up? The evidence is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) من نام عن صلاة أو نسيها فليصلها إذا ذكرها لا كفارة لها إلا ذلك ثم تلا قوله تعالى : وأقم الصلاة لذكري Whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it, let him pray it when he remembers it. There is no expiation for it except that. Then he recited His saying, the Exalted: "And establish prayer for My remembrance."
And based on this, we have two men: One delayed the dawn prayer until the sun rose intentionally, and he was awake and had no excuse, so he got up and prayed. What do we say about his prayer? It is invalid and rejected. The other woke up from sleep after the sun rose, and he had no one to wake him, and he forgot to turn on the alarm clock, or he made a mistake in setting it, or it alerted him but he was deeply asleep so he did not think it was his alarm and turned it off. Then he got up after the sun rose and prayed. What do you say about his prayer? It is valid, because the delay here was due to an excuse. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: For the first one who delayed it without an excuse, we say that even if he prayed a thousand times, it would not be accepted. And for the second, we say it is accepted, because he delayed it due to an excuse. This woman questioner who says that she left fasting for the sake of the exam: Is her leaving fasting and delaying it from its time for the sake of the exam an excuse or not an excuse? If it is not an excuse, then even if she makes up her fasting, it will not be accepted from her, rather it is rejected from her. And in that case, she has nothing on her except to repent to Allah, do good, and increase in seeking forgiveness and voluntary acts, so that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, may forgive her. As for making it up, she does not make it up.