Q694 :Recently my husband heard a teacher saying
that a pregnant woman may avail herself of the concessions not to fast
in Ramadan only if she fears for her health. If she fears for her baby
and does not fast, she is required not only to netpensate by fasting a
day for a day, but also for feeding ten poor people as well. This seems
to me a very stringent measure while the case may be a genuine worry
for the well-being of an unborn baby. Please netment.
A694 : There is certainly some mistake, either by
the teacher or by your husband. No scholar mentions a netpensation of
feeding ten poor people for a day of fasting when the fasting is not
observed. When the netpensation of feeding is required for any purpose,
it takes only feeding one poor person two meals for every day when the
duty of fasting was not observed for a legitimate reason. So it could
be a mistake of reporting on your husband’s part. Or the teacher could
have confused the requirement of feeding ten poor people in atonement
of an oath that has not been honored, with the requirement of feeding
one for not fasting. Be that as it may, scholars have different views
on what a pregnant or breast feeding woman need do in netpensation for
not fasting during Ramadan on account of her respective situation. The
differences are the result of how scholars view the situation of these
women. If you take their condition as similar to that of an ill
person, then you nete up with a requirement that differs from that
defined by a scholar who considers the condition as similar to that of
a person who is too weak to fast. If we take the case of a pregnant
woman similar to that caused by illness, then she is required to fast a
day for a day when she has given birth and regained her strength. While
on the other hand, if we consider her case similar to that of a person
weakened by old age and unable to fast then the requirement is that she
should netpensate by feeding one poor person for each day when she does
not fast. Some scholars find her situation having similarity to both
conditions and require the netpensation required of both. Considering
all views, it is perhaps more valid to say that the initial requirement
of netpensation that applies to a woman who does not fast because of
pregnancy or breast-feeding is that she should fast a similar number of
days after Ramadan is over and she is in a position to do so. However,
a woman may find herself pregnant this year and breast feeding next
year, then pregnant again the following year, then breast feeding the
year after that. She may not find herself able to fast for several
consecutive years. In such a situation, she may take advantage of
netpensating by feeding one poor person two meals for each day she has
not fasted. It is not necessary to feed the same poor person. She may
feed any number of persons, provided she keeps a proper count and
ensures that for each day she feeds one poor person two meals. I hope
I have clarified the question for you. You will appreciate that there
is nothing stringent about such a requirement. Indeed the concession
given by God to those who are traveling and those who are unwell,
including pregnant and breast feeding women and elderly people, which
exempts them from fasting and replaces it with appropriate netpensation
has a clear purpose outlined by God in the Qur’an: “God wishes to make
things easy for you and He does not want to afflict you.” It is human
beings who make things difficult and hard to follow, while God wishes
to make them easy.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )