Question:
I can not fast for medical reason. Can I calculate the cost of feeding a poor person and give it to him at once?
Fatwa:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
However, the Hanbali school are of the view that it is permissible to feed the same person for all the days one missed, either by giving him the total amount at once or feeding him every day. Of course, it is valid to feed a poor person only after one's breaking the fast [i.e. it is not acceptable from him to feed a person in advance, that is to say before the day one breaks the fast].
Allah Knows best.
Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb