What is fidya for missed fasts, and how much is it per day

Where fidya comes from

Fidya (فدية) is named in the same verse that tells the sick and the traveller to make up their fasts. Quran 2:184, in The Clear Quran by Dr. Mustafa Khattab, says: "For those who can only fast with extreme difficulty, compensation can be made by feeding a needy person (for every day not fasted)." The brackets are the translator's.

Ibn Abbas explained who that verse is about. In Sahih al-Bukhari 4505 he says it "is not abrogated, but it is meant for old men and old women who have no strength to fast, so they should feed one poor person for each day of fasting." That is the core of fidya: one day, one person fed.

Who pays fidya, and who makes up the days instead

IslamQA, citing the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis through Al-Mawsu'ah Al-Fiqhiyyah, describes fidya as due from someone who cannot fast because of old age or an illness with no hope of recovery. It quotes Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin distinguishing the two kinds of illness: a temporary illness means waiting until you are well and then fasting the days, while a chronic illness such as kidney disease or diabetes, where recovery is not expected, means feeding a poor person for each day.

SeekersGuidance sets out the Hanafi conditions strictly. The person cannot fast in Ramadan, cannot make the fasts up at any other time of year, and is not expected ever to regain the ability. If someone pays and later becomes able to fast, the payment counts as charity and the fasts must be made up. It also notes that in the Hanafi school there is no fidya for a pregnant or nursing woman, who makes up her fasts; Islamic Relief says the same.

A separate fidya is discussed for delay. Dar al-Ifta in Egypt explains that Imams Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad require fidya in addition to the make-up fasts when someone delays them past the next Ramadan without an excuse, while the Hanafi school does not. If you cannot afford fidya at all, Ibn Qudamah, quoted by IslamQA from Al-Mughni, says nothing is due, citing "Allah burdens not a person beyond his scope."

How much food counts as one day

The measure is given in old units of volume, and it differs between schools. For the Shafi'i school, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, answering for Qibla about the fidya for make-up fasts left past the next Ramadan, says to give one mudd of the main staple food of your area, wheat, barley, rice or whatever is eaten locally, and notes that Reliance of the Traveller estimates a mudd at 0.51 litres, roughly what two cupped hands hold.

For the Hanafi school the measure is half a sa' of wheat or its price. Darul Uloom Deoband gives half a sa' as 1,633 grams of wheat, while SeekersGuidance puts the value at approximately 2 kg of wheat and advises asking a local scholar for the exact amount where you live.

The Standing Committee and Shaykh Ibn Baz, both quoted by IslamQA, give half a sa' of the local staple, such as dates or rice, which IslamQA puts at approximately one and a half kilograms. IslamQA also notes another way: cooking a meal and inviting the poor, as Anas ibn Malik did in old age when he gathered thirty poor people instead of fasting a month.

Food or money

Whether fidya can be paid in cash is itself a difference of opinion. IslamQA holds that food is the basic principle and that fidya cannot be given in the form of money. The Hanafi sources above allow the price instead: Deoband speaks of wheat "or its price," and Shaykh Yusuf Badat of Mathabah describes fidya as feeding the poor a meal "or give its value in cash."

This is why some bodies, like those in the next section, publish a cash amount every year, while some scholars ask for food to be bought and handed over. Find out which approach your own scholar follows before you pay.

Published rates for 2026 and how to work it out

Cash rates are set locally and change every year. In Indonesia, BAZNAS, the national zakat agency, set fidya at Rp65,000 per person per day in Decision of the Chairman of BAZNAS No. 14 of 2026, announced on 3 February 2026. It added that regional BAZNAS offices and zakat institutions may set their own value where rice prices differ significantly.

Islamic Relief Worldwide lists $5 for each missed fast in 2026, which it says provides one person with one meal, and $150 for someone unable to fast the whole of Ramadan. The two figures are not comparable with each other; each reflects what one meal costs where that body works.

The calculation itself is multiplication. Number of days times the rate per day: thirty days at Rp65,000 is Rp1,950,000, and twelve days at $5 is $60. Fidya goes only to the poor and needy; IslamQA says that if it was given to people who were not in need, it has to be paid again. Shaykh Ibn Baz, quoted by IslamQA, allows giving it at the beginning, middle or end of the month, to one person or several.

Fidya is not kaffarah, and other common mistakes

Mixing up fidya and kaffarah. Kaffarah is a much heavier expiation. In Sahih al-Bukhari 1936, a man who had intercourse while fasting in Ramadan is asked whether he can free a slave, then whether he can fast two successive months, then whether he can feed sixty poor people. Islamic Relief describes kaffarah as paid when someone breaks a fast without a valid reason and prices it at about $400, the cost of feeding 60 people.

Paying fidya for a temporary illness. If you are expected to recover, the scholars quoted above say to make up the days instead.

Using last year's rate. BAZNAS's 2026 announcement states that its 2025 decision is revoked. Check the current figure from your local mosque or zakat body each year.

Leaving the arithmetic in your head. QadaBook's fidya calculator multiplies the days by the rate you enter, lists each school's measure for a day with its source, and lets you note what you paid. It never supplies a rate of its own.

This guide summarises published views and rates for general information and is not a fatwa. Whether fidya applies to you, and how much, is for a scholar you trust or your local Islamic authority to say.

Frequently asked questions