1668. The kaffÁrah of a fast of the month of Ramadan is either:
1. to free a slave
2. to fast for two months, in accordance to the instructions that will be elaborated in the subsequent article.
3. to satiate sixty needy people. A person may also give each of them one mudd (approximately 10 seers) of food, such as wheat, flour, bread, dates or anything similar.
If none of the above is possible for a person, obligatory precaution dictates that he should combine both: giving alms (Sadaqa) to the extent that he can afford, and also seeking forgiveness from Allah. If he is unable to give anything to the poor as sadaqa, he should seek forgiveness, even if it be by saying astagfirullah once. The obligatory precaution is that whenever he is able to, he should pay the kaffÁrah.
1669. If a person wishes to pay the kaffÁrah for the fast of the month of Ramadan by fasting for two months, he should fast the fasts of one month and one day (from the subsequent month) consecutively. There is no harm if the rest of the fasts are not observed consecutively.
1670. If a person wishes to pay the kaffÁrah for the fast of the month of Ramadan by fasting for two months, he should not start at a time wherein a day—such as ‘Ðd al-aÃÎÁ—on which fasting is prohibited falls within one month and one day of his starting date.
1671. If a person who must fast consecutively (for a month and one day) fails to fast during one of the days without a valid excuse, he will have to start his fasts from the beginning. The same will apply for a person who starts at a time when he knows that he will come across a day when it is obligatory on him to fast, such as a day for which he has made a nadhr to fast on that particular day.
1672. If a person develops an unavoidable excuse between the days that he must fast consecutively, such as ÎayÃ, nifÁs, or an illness, he will not have to start the fasts from the beginning after the excuse has been removed; rather, he may complete the rest of the fasts after the excuse is removed.
1673. If a person invalidates his fast by committing a forbidden act, be it an act which is essentially forbidden such as drinking wine or adultery, or forbidden for a particular reason, such as intercourse with one’s wife while she is in ÎayÃ, the combined kaffÁrah will become obligatory on him based on obligatory precaution. This means that he will have to free a slave, fast for two months and satiate sixty needy people, or provide each of them with one mudd (750 grams) of food. If he is unable to perform all three, he should do the ones that he is able to, and based on obligatory precaution he should also seek forgiveness.
1674. If a person who is fasting intentionally ascribes a lie to God, the prophet (May Allah’s Blessings be upon him and his progeny) or the Infallible Imams(Peace be upon them all), the combined kaffÁrah—as elaborated in the previous article—will become obligatory on him based on precaution.
1675. If a person who is fasting masturbates or has intercourse multiple times during one day of the month of Ramadan, precaution will dictate that he pay a kaffÁrah for each time he engaged in these acts. If the masturbation or intercourse be a forbidden one, then for each time a combined kaffÁrah will be obligatory on him based on obligatory precaution.
1676. If a person who is fasting invalidates his fast multiple times during one day of the month of Ramadan, with an act other than masturbation or intercourse, then one kaffÁrah will suffice in lieu of all of them.
1677. If a person who is fasting invalidates his fast with an act other than masturbation or intercourse, and then engages in intercourse or masturbation with his spouse, he will have to pay one kaffÁrah for the original act and based on obligatory precaution another kaffÁrah for intercourse or masturbation.
1678. If a person who is fasting invalidates his fast with a permissible act, other than intercourse and masturbation, such as drinking water, and then commits another act which is forbidden and invalidates a fast, other than intercourse and masturbation, such as consuming forbidden food, then only one kaffÁrah will be sufficient for his case.
1679. If a person who is fasting burps, causing some food to enter his mouth, and then intentionally swallows it, his fast will be invalidated and based on obligatory precaution he will have to pay its kaffÁrah as well. The same will apply if the substance that enters his mouth no longer contains the form of a food. However, in the latter case the recommended precaution is that he pay the combined kaffÁrah. If owing to a burp, a substance which is forbidden to consume, like blood, enters the mouth, and a person swallows it intentionally, his fast will be invalidated and he will have to fast its qaÃÁ. Additionally, obligatory precaution dictates that he pay the combined kaffÁrah.
1680. If a person makes a nadhr to fast on a particular day, and then intentionally invalidates his fast on that day, he will have to pay its kaffÁrah. The kaffÁrah for breaking a nadhr is the same as the kaffÁrah for breaking an oath, which will be elaborated in article 2734.
1681. If a person breaks his fast relying on the word of a person who claims that the time of maghrib has set in, but the word of that person is not canonically reliable, and he finds out later on that the time has not yet set in, or doubts whether it has or not, he will have to fast its qaÃÁ and pay its kaffÁrah as well.
1682. If a person who intentionally invalidates his fast, travels after zuhr, or travels before zuhr with the intention of escaping the kaffÁrah, he will not be excused from it. The same will apply—based on the stronger view—if a journey comes up for him prior to zuhr.
1683. If a person intentionally invalidates his fast, and later develops a valid excuse such as ÎayÃ, nifÁs or an illness, the kaffÁrah will nonetheless be obligatory on him based on obligatory precaution.
1684. If a person attains certainty or satisfaction that it is the first day of the month of Ramadan, or a bayyinah({^Shara’ee witness: two just men, or one just man and two just women, or four just women.^}) is established to that effect, and he intentionally invalidates his fast, but later finds out that it was the last day of ShaÞbÁn, he will not have to pay its kaffÁrah.
1685. If a person doubts whether it is the last of the month of Ramadan, or the first of ShawwÁl, and he intentionally invalidates his fast, but later finds out that it was the first of ShawwÁl, he will not have to pay its kaffÁrah.
1686. If a fasting person has intercourse in the month of Ramadan with his wife who is fasting, and he compels her to it, he will have to pay his own kaffÁrah and based on obligatory precaution, his wife’s as well. However, if she willingly consents to it, then each of them will have to pay a kaffÁrah.
1687. If a woman compels her husband to have intercourse with her, it will not be obligatory on her to pay his kaffÁrah.
1688. If a person compels his wife to have intercourse with him, and during the act the wife consents to it, then in this case obligatory precaution will dictate that the man pay two kaffÁrahs and the woman one.
1689. If a man has intercourse in the month of Ramadan with his fasting wife who is sleeping, he will have to pay one kaffÁrah. The fast of his wife will remain in order, and she won’t have to pay a kaffÁrah.
1690. If a man compels his wife to commit an act that invalidates the fast, other than intercourse, or a woman compels her husband to do so, neither of them will have to pay a kaffÁrah.
1691. If a person does not fast owing to a journey or an illness, he cannot compel his fasting wife to have intercourse with him. However, if he does compel his wife to do so, he will not have to pay the kaffÁrah.
1692. A person should not be negligent about paying his kaffÁrah. However, it is also not necessary for him to pay it off immediately.
1693. If a kaffÁrah becomes obligatory on a person, and a few years elapse without him paying it, no increase takes place on the kaffÁrah.
1694. If a person has to satiate sixty needy persons to pay the kaffÁrah of one fast, he cannot satiate one person twice or more. He can neither pay more than one mudd to each of them, and count the extra towards his kaffÁrah. He can however satiate a needy person along with his family—even if they include minors, but only if they are of an age whereby the concept of feeding them holds true in the common understanding—or he may also give one mudd to the guardian (wali) of the minor to be given to the minor.
1695. If a person fasts the qaÃÁ of the fast of the month of Ramadan, and intentionally commits an act after zuhr that invalidates his fast, he should give one mudd of food to ten needy persons. If he cannot do so, he should fast for three days, and the more precautious measure is that he fast them consecutively.
