Question:
- A man has to make up a day from Ramadan, but didn’t make it before the next Ramadan came around. What does he do?
Answer:
- That which is known is that Allah said {So whom ever witnesses the month from you then fast it. Who ever is sick or on a travel then he should make the fast on other days} (2:185). So the man who broke his fast for a legislated reason, then he has to make it up as Allah commanded. It is upon him to make it up within that year. It is not for him to delay it until after then next Ramadan. This is because of the statement of A’isha (may Allah be pleased with her) when she said, “There was upon me the fast from Ramadan, and I was not able to make it except in the month of Shabaan” (narrated by al Bukhari), and that was because of her closeness to the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). So her statement, “I was not able to make it up except in Sha’baan” is a proof that it is upon the individual to make up the day or days before the next Ramadan comes in. But if the person does delay it until after the second ramadan comes in then what is upon him is to ask Allah’s forgiveness and return to his obedience, to regret what he did, and to make up that day. This is because the made up days do not go away because one delayed it. So it is upon him to make up this day even if it was after the next ramadan. And Allah is the one that grants success.
[Taken from Fatawah Arkan al Islam by Sheikh Uthaimeen]
[Translated by Abu Abdillah Abdul Lateef]
