Ramadan has arrived and he has days from a previous Ramadan that he has not made up; is he sinful?

Question: If Ramadan arrives and a person has days from a previous Ramadan that he has not made up, is he sinful for not making them up before the entry of Ramadan? And is an expiation obligatory upon him or not?

Answer: It is obligatory for anyone who has days from Ramadan to make them up before the coming Ramadan. He may delay making them up until Sha'ban. If the second Ramadan arrives and he has not made them up without an excuse, he has sinned by doing so. He must make them up in the future, and he must feed one poor person for every day, as a group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) issued a ruling to that effect. The amount of food is half a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) for every day, consisting of the staple food of the country, to be given to some of the poor, even if it is to just one person.
However, if he was excused for the delay due to illness or travel, he only has to make up the days, and there is no feeding required of him; due to the generality of the saying of the Exalted: [Surat al-Baqarah:185]. And success is from Allah.