What is required of one who left fasting in his youth and is unable to make it up due to old age?
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Question:
This questioner says in this question: Your Eminence! I am a man who has reached the age of seventy-five. I did not begin fasting at the age of religious obligation; rather, I fasted some days and broke the fast on others, and I do not know the number of those days. That was in my youth. As for now—and I praise Allah—I am consistent in fasting, and that has been for more than thirty years. Your Eminence! What do I do about the days that I missed, when I do not know the number of these days, knowing that I am a man who is incapable and unable to make them up? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
You must make them up based on your estimate. You should strive to estimate the number, and then make them up. If you are unable to make them up due to old age and incapacity, you feed one poor person for each day, half a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) of the local staple food, whether dates, rice, or wheat, for each day. You gather this and give it to some of the poor according to your estimate. If you estimated twenty days, thirty days, forty days, or fifty days, you fast them according to your estimate. If you are unable because you are old and cannot fast Ramadan, and you are incapable, then you feed one poor person for each day. Likewise, the one who is incapable of fasting Ramadan feeds one poor person for each day. However, if you are able to make them up, then you must make them up. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
This questioner says in this question: Your Eminence! I am a man who has reached the age of seventy-five. I did not begin fasting at the age of religious obligation; rather, I fasted some days and broke the fast on others, and I do not know the number of those days. That was in my youth. As for now—and I praise Allah—I am consistent in fasting, and that has been for more than thirty years. Your Eminence! What do I do about the days that I missed, when I do not know the number of these days, knowing that I am a man who is incapable and unable to make them up? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
You must make them up based on your estimate. You should strive to estimate the number, and then make them up. If you are unable to make them up due to old age and incapacity, you feed one poor person for each day, half a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) of the local staple food, whether dates, rice, or wheat, for each day. You gather this and give it to some of the poor according to your estimate. If you estimated twenty days, thirty days, forty days, or fifty days, you fast them according to your estimate. If you are unable because you are old and cannot fast Ramadan, and you are incapable, then you feed one poor person for each day. Likewise, the one who is incapable of fasting Ramadan feeds one poor person for each day. However, if you are able to make them up, then you must make them up. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.