Is it permissible to fulfill a vow to fast on Mondays and Thursdays by feeding a poor family of six a full meal sufficient for two or three days, instead of feeding ten destitute people or giving them money, after having been unable to fast for years due to illness and travel?

The vow to fast on Mondays and Thursdays must be fulfilled because it is a vow of obedience, and its ruling is like that of an obligatory fast in Islamic law. It is permissible for the sick and the traveler to break their fast, and they must make up the days after their excuse is gone. However, breaking the fast for hospitality is not permissible, and one must make up the days along with an expiation for breaking an oath (kaffarat yamin). The expiation for breaking an oath is feeding ten poor persons, or clothing them, or freeing a slave; and whoever cannot find [any of these] should fast for three days. It is obligatory to feed ten poor persons, and feeding fewer than that is not sufficient. And fasting the three days for expiation is not sufficient if one is able to feed [the poor].