Fasting Sawm

Situations in Which Only Qada (not Kaffarah) Is Obligatory

33- Is kaffarah obligatory for a person who had a nocturnal seminal emission and he slept the second sleep until the fajr time while he was used to waking up before?

A: In the given question only qada is obligatory and he is not obliged to pay the kaffarah.

34- If a saim had invalidated his sawm by showing the act of, or with the intention of, breaking the sawm (e.g. he intended to neglect the sawm of that day) and he did not take any thing, or do any practice, that would break the fast, then is kaffarah obligatory in addition to the qada? A: It is sufficient to do qada only.

35- If the saim had taken something which would break the fast before paying attention to the time of fajr and later it appeared that the fajr had already arrived and he had the power to pay attention to it, then what is the ruling?

A: In the given question, only qada is obligatory.

36- If a saim had eaten something depending on someone who told him that it was still night while the fajr had already arrived, then would kaffarah rest upon him in the given question?

A: There is no kaffarah upon him.

37- If a saim had broken his sawm before the time of maghrib due to the darkness which he suspected to be maghrib although there were no clouds or other things in the sky, then what is ruling of his sawm?

A: He is obliged to do qada and kaffarah, as well, unless he had broken the fast because he was certain that the maghrib had arrived, in such a case only qada would rest upon him.

38- If 2 people, or one person, just had told the saim that maghrib had arrived because they were certain about it, and he broke his fast depending on this and it appeared later that maghrib had not arrived yet. What is the ruling of this?

A: There is nothing upon him (neither qada nor kaffarah) in the given question.

39- A mukallaf upon whom the debt of an obligatory sawm is resting (like qada of Ramadan or something else) and he wanted to fast a mustahabb sawm. Would this sawm be correct?

A: Sawm al-mustahabb would not be acceptable from those upon whom the debt of an obligatory [wajib] sawm rests like the qada of Ramadan, kaffarah, etc. Then, if he fasts it and then remembered during the day, his sawm would be considered void and if this was before zawal, he could shift to the niyyah of qada, and his sawm would be correct.

40- If a mukallaf who is ignorant about the ruling, had fasted during his journey, what is the ruling of his fasting?

A: Sawm during a journey is incorrect.

41- If an elderly man or woman were unable to fast or it was difficult for them, are they allowed to break the fast?

A: If they were unable to fast, they are allowed to break the fast and nothing would be upon them, while if the sawm was difficult for them, then they should pay kaffarah of one mudd for each day.

42- What is the kaffarah for every elderly man and woman and those with parching thirst?

A: For each day they should pay one mudd of food only in cases where if the sawm was difficult for them and not if they were unable to fast. 43- Is one, who was unintentionally unconscious, obliged to do qada of the missed sawm during the period of unconsciousness?

A: There is no qada upon him for the missed sawm during unconsciousness.

44- Should a person who was originally a non-believer (kafir), do qada of the missed sawm during his non-belief?

A: There is no qada upon him after he had converted to Islam.

45- Is the Sunni obliged to do qada of his previous sawm when he becomes Shiite?

A: If he was observing his sawm according to the rulings of his previous school of thought, there would no qada upon him after he had converted, otherwise, the qada would rest upon him.

46- Is it obligatory to hasten to do qada?

A: It is not obligatory, but it is not permissible to delay it without an excuse until the next month of Ramadan. 47- If a person, who broke his fast for an excuse, died before the end of the month of Ramadan, is it obligatory to do qada on his behalf? A: In the given question, doing qada on his behalf is not obligatory.

48- If a person had broken his sawm in the month of Ramadan due to an excuse and then the excuse continued to the next Ramadan, what is the ruling?

A: If the excuse was a disease which continued till the next Ramadan, the qada would fall from his debt and he should pay the kaffarah of a mudd for each day. And if the excuse was not a disease, whether the delaying of doing qada was due to an illness or another excuse, there would be nothing upon him other than observing qada.

49- What it would be the consequences if one had delayed doing qada till the next month of Ramadan?

A: If the delaying did not have an excuse, he is obliged to pay the kaffarah of one mudd of food for each day in addition to the qada.

50- Would the kaffarah [fediyah] be repeated with the repetition of the delay?

A: It would not be repeated.

51- Is it permissible to break the fast before zawal in the sawm of the qada of the month of Ramadan?

A: It is permissible if the time is sufficient.

52- Is it obligatory for the oldest son to do qada on behalf of his dead parents regarding the sawm days they had missed?

A: He is obliged to do the qada of those days of the qada which was obligatory on his parents.

53- Is it permissible to pay the kaffarah of several days of Ramadan to one needy person?

A: There is no objection in doing so.

54- We are a great number of those who remained on the taqlid of imam Khomeini (q.) and who refer to you in the new issues and we are waiting for your permission to deviate to your taqlid completely. There is another group of those who follow Sayyid Khu''i and Ayatullah Araki, and all of us are mujahidin in the army corps of Badr.

When we were under the corrupt and oppressive regime of Iraq, we had missed the sawm of the month of Ramadan for a period ranging approximately, from 5 to 15 months due to ignorance and harassment on the side of the regime especially for those involved in official, namely military, jobs, and it seems that we have to do qada and pay kaffarah. Some of us had finished their qada and some others were still doing it but the problem is with paying the kaffarah because we could not pay the kaffarah of 15 or more months due to our economic conditions and low income. So, is there a way to escape the payment of kaffarah?

A: For the kaffarah related to the intentional breaking of the sawm of Ramadan, if a person is unable to fulfill its 3 options (i.e. releasing a slave, a sawm of 60 days and the feeding of 60 needy persons), he could suffice with paying alms [sadaqah] of any amount he could afford and in case he could not, he should ask Allah for forgiveness.

55- One had attained puberty but he was ignorant of his obligations regarding ghusl al-janabah and its method, and 10 years had passed before he became aware about the matter of taqlid and the obligation of ghusl. What would be the consequences related to him regarding the qada of sawm and salat?

A: He is obliged to do the qada of the salats he prayed in a state of janabah and also the sawm if he had knowledge of the occurance of janabah and the emission of semen (whether by nocturnal seminal emission or other practices which entail its occurance) but was ignorant about the obligation of ghusl for the junub for his salat and sawm. It is even more likely that kaffarah would be obligatory on him if his ignorance was due to negligence. While if he was originally ignorant about whether janabah had happened or not and he was not aware that he was junub at the time of fajr, then not only would kaffarah not be obligatory upon him but even qada.

56- If one had made a nadhr to fast a certain day or to pray a certain salat or he had made an oath of that, then he broke his oath or nadhr, is he obliged to do qada of that sawm or salat in addition to the kaffarah? And is there a difference between an oath and a nadhr in this regard?

A: In breaking one''s nadhr of sawm or salat, in addition to the kaffarah, qada is more likely to be obligatory in sawm and a precautionary obligation with respect to salat. It is not remote, as well, in this case, to append breaking an oath with breaking a nadhr.

57- A mukallaf was ignorant about the obligation of paying zakat al-fitrah. Is he obliged to do qada of its payment for that period in which he was ignorant? And how is the amount to be calculated for each year?

A: It is based on obligatory precaution to pay and the standard be the present price.