Paying Back Missed Fasts

If a Muslim misses a day of fasting in Ramadan without a valid excuse, he must repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness; because the offense is great, and this is a grave abominable act. He must also in addition to repentance and seeking forgiveness, make up for the day(s) he did not fast after Ramadan. Here it is a necessity to make up for the day(s) immediately after Ramadan according to the most correct opinion of scholars, because he did not have a license to break his fast in the first place and he should have fasted the day(s) in its correct time.

- If s/he broke his fast for a legitimate excuse, such as the reason of Hayd (menstruation) and nifaas (post-natal bleeding) for women, illness, travel or other excuses for which it is permissible to break the fast, then he must make up for the day(s), unless s/he is incapable of fasting. Moreover, it is not obligatory to fast these days immediately. Rather s/he has been given the chance to observe Fast over the entire following year, up until the next Ramadan, for �Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) in a hadeeth said: �I was not able to make up for the missed days of Ramadhan except in Sha�ban (the last month before the next Ramadhan).� A sub-narrator, Yahya, said, �She used to be busy serving the Prophet.� [ Agreed upon.] However it is highly recommended and preferred to hasten to make up for the missed day(s), since by doing that one is discharging himself from that debt. And it is also safer for the person for something might unexpectedly happen, such as illness and the like, that would prevent him from fasting.

- If he delays making up for the day(s) until the next Ramadan, and he has an excuse to delay it, and if the same excuse still continues, then he must make up for the day(s) after the next Ramadan.

- If, however, he delays making up for the day(s) until the next Ramadan without an excuse, according to the majority of scholars, together with making up for the day(s), he is obliged to feed one poor person for each day half of a Sa�a (approximately one and a half kilograms) of the food staple of that country. Hanafis and Thahiris, however, are of the opinion that he does not have to feed the poor.

- When making up the missed day(s), it is not required that it be done consecutively. He can either make up the day(s) by fasting on consecutive or separate days, both are correct; Allah Almighty says: �... but if any of you is ill or on a journey, the same number of days (should be made up) from other days� (Al-Baqarah : 184).

Allah, Glorified be He, does not require that these days of fasting be consecutive. If it was a condition, Almighty Allah would have made it clear.

- If a person has to make up for missed day(s) of Ramadan, he should begin with that before performing his voluntary fasting; because obligatory fasting is of greater importance. It is, however, permissible to fast voluntarily before making up for the obligatory day(s) of Ramadan in cases where the voluntary fasting is of days that the person is keen not to miss due to their virtue, such as the tenth of Muharram, the day of Arafah, fasting the six days of Shawwal and the like, since the chance for making up for the day(s) of Ramadan extends until before the following Ramadan. Yet, it is better to make up the day(s) that he did not fast in Ramadan as soon as possible.

- Whoever delays making up for the day(s) of Ramadan until he dies for a valid excuse, there is nothing against him; because he did not leave the fasting intentionally. If, however, there is no excuse, he should feed one poor person for every day of Ramadan he did not fast, however if the fasting is a Nathr (vowing to fast for Allah if something happens), then his inheritor must fast that on his behalf. Some scholars are of the opinion that if a person dies and he still has day(s) from Ramadan to make up, his inheritor should fast on his behalf, whether that was the obligatory fasting of Ramadan or the nathr fasting and the like. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: �Whoever dies and he ought to have observed Saum (fast) (the missed days of Ramadhan) then his Wali (inheritor) must observe Saum (fast) on his behalf� [Agreed upon.]; Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him ) said: �A man came to the Prophet and said, �O Allah�s Messenger ! My mother died and she ought to have observed Saum (fast) for one month (for her missed days of Ramadhan), shall I observe (fast) on her behalf?� The Prophet replied in the affirmative and said, �Allah�s debts have more right to be paid.� [ Agreed upon.]
source:islamkingdomfasting