The Expiation (Kaffara) for Having Sex While Fasting

Answered by Shaykh Faraz A. Khan

Question: 1. I was involved in a sexual activity while fasting during ramadhan with a woman. After having sex i discontinued my fast. At that time i was not married. Please suggest me kaffara.

2. During one Ramadhan i had sex with my wife while fasting. This happened several times in that month. That time we were newly married. Sometimes i use to fast and some times i was not but my wife continued her fasting whole month. We use to sleep together after offering fajr prayer. It was me who initiated that act and we use to continue our fast even after having sex. Can you please let me know the kaffara for in the light of Quran and Sunnah for both of us.

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and states. May Allah reward you for your desire to repent and make amends, and grant you ease in doing so.

Tawba: Repentance

Regarding the first question, this was a very grave sin in Sharia. You must make sincere repentance for it: seek Allah’s forgiveness while feeling real remorse, cease doing this act (if you still do it), and resolve never to do it again.

Regarding the second question, again both you and your wife must make sincere repentance for these acts.

[Nawawi, Riyad al-Salihin]

Kaffara: Expiation

In terms of kaffara, you and your wife each owe one kaffara, which is to fast for 60 consecutive days, without missing a single day. This must be done in a time without any of the days of Id/Tashriq (Shawwal 1, Dhul Hijja 10-13), since it is sinful to fast on any of those five days.

If one does not fast the 60 days consecutively, one would have to restart the 60 days.

The only exception to this ruling is for a woman in menstruation or post-natal bleeding. She would abstain from fasting on the days of menstruation/lochia, and then resume immediately upon becoming pure. If she delayed the fast after becoming pure, she would have to restart the 60 days.

Makeups

In addition to the kaffara, each of you must calculate the number of days on which this occurred, and then make up that number. This is because intercourse while fasting does break the fast, so those days did not count even if you both continued to abstain from food/drink the rest of the day.

As opposed to the kaffara however, these makeups do not have to be made up consecutively.

Both of these rulings — kaffara and makeups — pertain to both you and your wife, even if it was you who initiated the act.
[Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Tahtawi ala Maraqi al-Falah]

And Allah knows best.

wassalam
Faraz

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani