Q. I have a family member who has a chronic disease that requires him to take medication several times a day without fail, in order to keep his condition under control. I watched this man really stressed out last Ramadan because of fasting. He is 66 years old, but he refuses to miss fasting. Should he really fast in this condition?

(Name and address withheld)

A. Islam never requires its followers to undertake anything that causes them too much trouble. Fasting is difficult for normal, healthy human beings, even when they are in the prime of life. This is acknowledged in a sacred, or qudsi, Hadith in which God promises rich reward for fasting. He describes fasting as man “going without his food, drink and pleasure for My sake.”

But God does not want us unduly stressed out in order to fast. Hence, He has allowed us a number of concessions to cater to different conditions where fasting becomes particularly or exceedingly difficult. He says: “Whoever is ill or on a journey may fast a similar number of days.” (2: 185)

This applies to any condition which people describe as illness or travel. It does not require the illness to be too severe, or the travel to be too arduous. Whatever is legitimately described as illness or travel counts as a good reason for availing oneself of this concession. Hence, the man in this case may use this concession, either to take his medicines at proper intervals or to keep his condition under control. The fact that it is a chronic complaint does not affect his entitlement in the least. On the contrary, it may make it more desirable that he should not fast in order not to let his condition deteriorate.

The question arises here: Since this person is an old man, and his condition is chronic, he could be suffering this illness for the rest of his life. What is the solution in this case? This is very simple. When a person suffers from a chronic disease that makes it difficult for him to fast, and he is unlikely to recover for a long time, he does not fast. He compensate for this by feeding a poor person two meals for each day of Ramadan. If he does more, i.e. feeding more than one person, he receives more reward. But if he keeps to the obligatory compensation, he receives his reward with those who fast in Ramadan. This applies regardless of the age of the person concerned.

Having said this, I may add that elderly people may find it difficult to fast because they are frail, even though they have no specific illness. Old age itself counts as an illness in this case. When an elderly person finds fasting too strenuous to bear, he or she should not fast, but should compensate by feeding poor people. The two meals should be of the average type he and his family normally have. Thus, if the elderly person concerned is of limited means, the meals should be of his own average. If he is affluent, the meals given to the poor person should again be of the average type his family normally have.

Pregnancy, Nursing and Fasting

Q. I could not fast during the last two years because I was pregnant first and then I was breast-feeding my child. On doctors’ advice, I felt that I should not fast. How should I compensate for non-fasting?

(Name withheld)

A. Women often find themselves in the situation where they are pregnant one year and breast-feeding the next year. If this carries on for a few years during the reproductive period in a woman’s life, it is likely she will not be able to fast for several years. If she is required to make up for all this in fasting, she will find herself with a very heavy load of compensation, that she may not be able to manage. Since Islam is both practical and easy to implement, God has allowed women in such a situation to resort to the other method of compensation, which is to feed a poor person two meals for each day of nonfasting. This means that the lady reader should make this sort of compensation, feeding a poor person for sixty days, or sixty poor persons for one day, or any combination of the two, provided always that for each day, she gives one poor person two meals of the average type her family gets in normal time.