What Are the Consequences of Having Sexual Relations with Someone of the Same Gender during Ramadan?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question

In the past, unfortunately, I was involved in horrible intimate acts with the same sex. I would do these things even during Ramadan when I was fasting.
Does this require me to make an expiation and fast 60 days straight?

Answer

Yes, if you deliberately engaged in sexual intercourse during a fast in the month of Ramadan, you would need to perform the expiation (kaffara), above and beyond making up the fasts (qada’) which were invalidated thereby.

The expiation is to fast sixty days consecutively, ensuring that those days aren’t interrupted by either ‘Eid or the three days after ‘Eid al-Adha.

You also need to repent for these actions. “The one who repents from sin is like the one who has no sin,” said the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace).

[Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah, with Tahtawi’s Gloss]

Please also see: Is Expiation (kaffara) Necessary For Not Fasting in Ramadan? and: The Expiation (Kaffara) for Having Sex While Fasting and: The Complete Guide to Fasting

And Allah Most High alone knows best.

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.