The Difference Between an Illness That Is Expected to Be Cured and One That Is Not

Question: I am a man suffering from a nervous condition. I visited a hospital for mental diseases, and they prescribed me continuous treatment, three times a day. If I stop it, the illness becomes severe for me until I fall to the ground without consciousness. I wish to fast, but I am afraid that if the treatment I take daily is interrupted, this illness will return to me.

Answer: Do not fast, may Allah reward you. Allah the Exalted said: [Surat al-Baqarah: 185]. As long as your condition is as you described, take the pills every day, and do not fast until Allah cures you.
And ask the doctors who gave you the medication. If, in their opinion and experience, this illness is expected to continue, then feed one poor person for every day, and that is sufficient, like the old man and the old woman. Feed one poor person half a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) of dates or rice, which you give to the poor. One poor person or more, at the beginning of the month, in the middle, or at the end, you gather it and give it to some of the poor, and that is sufficient, if Allah wills.
But if the doctors say that this illness is expected to end, if Allah wills, after two or three years, then you postpone it. So if Allah grants you health, you make up the fasts.