Categories Exempted from Fasting - Dr Zakir Naik

Categories Exempted from Fasting - Dr Zakir Naik

RDDZ-4-3

Yusuf Chambers: Now Dr. Zakir on to the second category of people, we talking about exemptions, could you list or mention all of the different categories of people that are exempted from fasting during the month of Ramadhaan?

Dr. Zakir: There are in total according to me 13 categories of people who are exempted from fasting.

The first is if a person is a unbeliever, if he is a non-Muslim.

No. 2 if he or she is a minor.

No. 3 if the person is insane.

No. 4 if it’s a lady and she is menstruating, she will not fast.

No. 5 if she has her post natal bleeding, she is exempted from fasting.

No. 6 if she is pregnant, then she is exempted.

No. 7 if she is breastfeeding, she is exempted.

No. 8 if the person is ill or sick, he or she is exempted.

No. 9 if the person is disabled.

No. 10 that if the person is very elderly, has reached a very old age.

No. 11 if they person is traveling.

No. 12 if the person is talking part in Jihaad or a fight in the cause of Allah (swt).

And no. 13 under compulsion, under compulsion, if someone forces and if the person doesn’t fast, he or she is exempted. These are in short the 13 categories in which a person is exempted from fasting.

Yusuf Chambers: Excellent! Now I think we need to discuss each category on its own merits. Dr. Zakir, do all of the people that you have mentioned in the exempted categories have to make up their fast later on?

Dr. Zakir: Out of the 13 categories which I mentioned, the first 3 categories, they don’t have to make up their fast later on i.e. the non-Muslim, that’s a person who is a minor and a person who is an insane.

Out of the remaining 10 categories,

2 categories a person who is disabled for long and a person who is very elderly these 2 people also don’t have to make up for their fast but they have to pay a ransom, the feeding of a poor person for every fast they miss.

As far as the other 8 categories are concerned, the moment the condition in which they are, it gets reversed then they have to make up for the fasts that they have missed. For example in the 8 categories are the menstruating lady, moment she finishes her menstruation then she should make up for her fast as soon as possible before the next Ramadhaan.

A woman who is in the period of post-natal bleeding. The moment it gets over she has to fast.

If a lady is pregnant, the moment the pregnancy gets over and the post-natal bleeding gets over then she has to fast.

If a lady, the fourth category if she is breast feeding after the breast feeding gets over then she has to fast.

For a person who is sick, the moment he gets healthy, he or she has to fast.

Similarly a person who is traveling, moment he finishes his traveling, he has to fast.

And a person who is taking part in Jihad, fighting in the cause of Allah (swt) moment the fight gets over he or she has to fast.

Similarly a person who is in compulsion and is not fasting the moment the compulsion is removed, he or she has to fast. But natural all these have to be done before the next Ramadhaan.