Back to search

What is the ruling on dividing the fasting of a deceased person's missed Ramadan days among her heirs, and is that sufficient on her behalf?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Whoever dies while owing fasts from Ramadan:

- If they died before being able to make up the fasts due to an excuse: There is nothing owed by them, according to most scholars.

- If they died after being able to make up the fasts: It is obligatory to feed a poor person for each day, and this is the view of most scholars. They cited the hadith of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him: "Whoever dies while owing the fasts of a month, a poor person should be fed on their behalf for each day."

Imam Shafi'i, in his earlier view, held that fasting should be performed on their behalf, based on the hadith of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever dies while owing fasts, their ولي (guardian/next of kin) should fast on their behalf." This latter view is the stronger one.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy