❀ Ruling on Fasting for Pregnant and Nursing Women ❀
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Pregnant and Nursing Women and the Ruling of Fasting
◈ ➊ Concession for Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women
Anas ibn Mālik al-Kaʿbī رضي الله عنه narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed Allah has removed from the traveler (the obligation of) fasting and half of the prayer, and from the pregnant and the nursing woman (the obligation of) fasting.”
📘 [Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2107; Aḥmad: 4/347; Abū Dāwūd: 2308; Tirmidhī: 715; Nasāʾī: 4/180; Ibn Mājah: 1667; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2032; ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd: 431]
✔ This shows that pregnant and nursing women are excused from fasting, similar to travelers.
❖ Fasting on Behalf of the Deceased
◈ ➋ If One Dies With Fasts Still Owed
ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whoever dies with fasts due upon him, his guardian (i.e., heir) should fast on his behalf.”
📘 [Bukhārī: 1952; Muslim: 1147; Aḥmad: 6/69; Abū Dāwūd: 2400; Bayhaqī: 4/255; Abū Yaʿlā: 4417; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2052; Dārquṭnī: 2/194]
❖ A narration from Musnad al-Bazzār includes the addition “if he wishes (in shāʾ Allāh)”, but it is weak:
📚 [Ḍaʿīf: al-Taʿlīqāt al-Raḍiyyah ʿalā al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 2/23; Kashf al-Astār: 1/481, ḥadīth 1023; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 3/179 — Isnāds include weak narrators Ibn Luhayʿah]
✔ Imām Bayhaqī noted in al-Khilāfiyyāt that this Sunnah is established.
✔ No known dispute among Ahl al-Ḥadīth on the validity of fasting on behalf of the deceased.
📘 [Fatḥ al-Bārī: 4/706; Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/213]
◈ ➌ Views of the Imams
- Aḥmad, Awzāʿī: Fasting on behalf of the deceased is permissible, but only for vowed fasts.
- Imām Shāfiʿī: One narration aligns with this view.
- Mālik, Abū Ḥanīfah: Fasting on behalf of a deceased person is not permissible in any case. Instead, fidya (feeding one poor person per missed fast) must be given.
✔ This view is also supported by a narration from ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهم.
📘 [al-Ḥāwī: 3/452; al-Mughnī: 4/399; al-Umm: 2/144; Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ: 2/103; al-Mabsūṭ: 3/89; al-Kāfī: p. 122; al-Inṣāf: 3/334; Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/214]
◈ ➍ Preferred (Rājiḥ) Opinion
✔ The correct view is that the guardian may fast on behalf of the deceased, and substitution is valid, since an authentic ḥadīth supports it.
✘ The evidence used by those who only allow feeding the poor is based on a weak narration, such as from Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما:
“Whoever dies with fasts due upon him, one poor person should be fed for each day.”
📚 [Ḍaʿīf: Ibn Mājah: 1757; Tirmidhī: 718; Ibn Mājah (Ḍaʿīf Ibn Mājah: 389)]
◈ ➎ Scholars’ Positions on Obligation vs. Recommendation
- (Jumhūr): Recommended (Mustaḥabb) to fast on behalf of the deceased.
📘 [Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/214] - Ibn Ḥazm: It is obligatory.
📘 [al-Muḥallā: 4/420] - Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān: It is obligatory.
📘 [al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 1/551] - Amīr al-Ṣanʿānī: The original ruling is obligation.
📘 [Sabil al-Salām: 2/894] - al-Albānī: It is not obligatory.
📘 [al-Taʿlīqāt al-Raḍiyyah: 2/25]
◈ Important Clarification
✔ The phrase “wa ʿalayhi ṣiyām” (and fasting is due upon him) refers to obligatory fasts (like Ramaḍān or vowed fasts) — not voluntary fasts.
