Q. My
question is about making up of broken fasts. I am aware of the rule for making
up fasts either by keeping them yourself or giving money to feed a poor person
for every broken fast. Why is a menstruating or post-natal woman obligated to
make up her broken fasts? It is not that she has intentionally broken her fast;
she is forbidden to fast during these times, so why does it feel like she is
being penalized? There is no requirement to make up prayers that are missed
during these times. Salah in order of
importance in our five pillars comes before sawm, so I would have assumed
that a woman would not be required to make up her fasts. As I understand the
five Islamic pillars, the first and second (belief in God’s Oneness and prayer)
are obligatory to every believing person with no exceptions, the other three (charity,
fasting, and hajj) are prescribed for
Muslims with conditions. I have read your article on fasting in
the summer when the daylight hours are very long, and it gave me some food
for thought (no pun intended!). Fasting is an act of worship, but being made to
make up broken fasts does not feel very much like worship to me. Also, if a
person who has no health conditions that prevent him / her from fasting wants
to pay a person to make up their fast, can they do this?
A. The
issue you have raised about menstruating or post-natal women having to make up
the missed fasts is a ruling from the jurists, and as you rightly point out, it
is not something that is within the worshipper’s control. This making up of
missed fasts in the situation you mentioned seems to be the reasoning of the
jurists and over time has been accepted as part of the religion. It may be that
they put it into the category of 'sickness' and made their ijtihad along those lines. It is
for this reason we suggest that worshippers become more learned in the religion
and do what is based on their intellectual analysis of certain rules and
regulations. The Qur'an says that "God wants that which is easy for
you", and also that "God does not tax a human being with more than he
/ she can bear", yet many of the fiqh rulings seem to violate these two basics. We will take
the Maliki position here and suggest that you do what you deem is right. I am
not a medical doctor, and Imam Malik suggested that women's issues be decided
by women who are familiar with their own bodies and their functions. Regarding
the last part of your question about paying someone to fast for you, this type
of vicarious atonement is not within the spirit of 'dhawq al Qur’an' (the taste of
the Qur’an), since religious duties and accountability are between the servant
and the Lord. Deputizing of religious obligations ought to have a valid reason.
Posted
January 7, 2012