Do I Need to Make Up Missed Fasts Due to a Medical Condition?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I could not fast since the age of 15 due to a kidney condition requiring continuous water intake. Two years ago, my kidney stopped functioning completely, and I no longer needed to drink water continuously. As a dialysis patient, my doctor recently confirmed that fasting is now possible for me.

• Do I need to make up the missed fasts from the past two years?
• Does receiving medication during dialysis break my fast?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

If you are physically able to fast now without putting yourself at risk, you must make up previous fasts. Note, you are not sinful for those fast, but they do need to be made up. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Making Up Missed Fasts

Calculate to the best of your ability how many fast you missed due to your medical condition and make them up according to a schedule that is reasonable for you and your lifestyle.

Medication During Fasting

If the dialysis medication is taken orally, it breaks the fast. If you can delay the time of the medicine without risk to before Fajr and/or after Maghrib, this is best. [Maydani, al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab]

If the dialysis medication is intravenous or intramuscular, it does not break your fast. [Ibid.]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he went on to study at Darul Uloom Seminary in New York and completed his studies at Darul Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen.

There, he completed the memorization of the Quran and his study of Islamic Sciences. Throughout his years of study, he was blessed to learn from many great scholars: Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Kazhim al-Saqqaf, Shaykh ‘Umar bin Husayn al-Khatib, and others.

Upon returning, he joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.