Some time ago, I sent a question about a woman who deliberately broke her fast in Ramadan without a valid excuse. She repented from her sin and atoned for it by fasting two consecutive months. However, her last day of fasting coincided with the day of eid Al-Adh-ha. Did she do the right thing? Last time, you answered that, in Islam, no major expiation is required for women. I would appreciate your clarification on the matter since I could not understand the answer.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Our previous answer was clear as we stated that the Muslim scholars have different opinions regarding whether or not a major expiation is required for the woman who breaks her fast in Ramadan on account of sexual intercourse. We hold the opinion that no major expiation is required for women in this case as preponderant.

We add here that if such a woman adopts the opinion that requires her to observe the major expiation, she then must observe the three actions of major expiation in order. This means that she must first free a slave, and if it is not feasible, then she should fast two consecutive months, and if that is not possible, then she must feed sixty poor people. If she has to fast and it happens that a day of her fasting coincides with the eid, then she would have to break her fast on that day, and if she fasted on it, it would not count.

Muslim scholars, however, provided variable views regarding the validity of the consecutiveness of fasting in this case. Most of the scholars hold the opinion that breaking the fast on the day of eid interrupts the consecutiveness of fasting and that she is required to start the two months all over again. This is because she could have checked the calendar and avoided such overlap before she starting.

Hanbali scholars, on the other hand, maintain that breaking the fast on the days of eid and tashreeq does not break the consecutiveness of the fast. Rather, the person has to break his fast on the eid and then resume fasting immediately after the eid or the tashreeq days. If such a woman fails to resume fasting immediately after these days, then she will have to start the two months anew. We have previously stressed that this last view is the preponderant one.

Allaah Knows best.