Question :

I`m a twenty-year-old woman inflicted with type (1) diabetes, so I take insulin injections. It is very difficult for me to observe fast with such a condition because of the continued need for taking medications. However, I have recently used a new type of medication that enabled me to observe fast last Ramadan. Still, sometimes, it becomes too difficult for me to remain fasting. My question is: Should I make up for the missed obligatory fast in previous years, knowing that I have missed more than two hundred days, or does paying the ransom avail me?

The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

It is incumbent on the person who is inflicted with an incurable disease to pay ransom, and, in principle, s/he isn`t obliged to observe fast. Accordingly, if trustworthy doctors are of the view that that person`s disease is incurable then she/he doesn`t have to observe fast, but they must pay the ransom, which is feeding a needy Muslim person a Mudd (600gr.) of the common food of the country for each missed day.

Moreover, if she/he, later on, was able to observe fast then they don`t have to make for the missed days. Rather, paying the ransom avails them because it was due on them, in the first place, for being unable to observe fast, and this is the view of the Muslim scholars. Al-Baijooree (Allah be pleased with him) said: "If he was able to observe fast after Ramadan had passed then he isn`t obliged to make up for the missed days, whether that ability was after paying the ransom or before, because the ransom was an obligation in the first place." {Hashyat Al-Baijoori Al Matin Abi Shoja`a, (vol.1/pp.300). Also refer to {Moghni al-Mohtajj, vol.1/pp.440}.

In conclusion, you (asker) don`t have to make up for the missed fast of previous years, and we pray that Allah Blesses you with full recovery and Helps all of us to obey Him as He should be. And Allah Knows Best.