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Fatwa CenterPaying Fidyah on behalf of a poor woman by giving it to her
Question
A poor woman suffers an incurable cancer and she cannot fast. She knows that she is required to pay the Fidyah (compensation for not fasting). She asks whether she is required to give out of her small amount of food or someone else can do this on her behalf. Can that person give the compensation to her family which consists of 8 children and the husband due to their difficult living and health conditions? Does this absolve her of liability?
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.
If it is proven that the woman is indeed unable to fast due to this chronic disease, she is permitted not to fast and she is liable to pay the Fidyah, which is giving a Mudd (about 750 grams) of food for each day she did not fast of Ramadan.
Being unable to pay the Fidyah due to poverty absolves her of liability. If someone volunteers to pay the Fidyah on her behalf, it is accepted. That is because feeding is a financial act of worship which could be paid by someone else on behalf of the one required to pay it. ‘Aa’ishah 
narrated,
"A man came to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in the Masjid and said, "I have been burnt (ruined)!" "What is the case?" asked the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. "I had sexual intercourse with my wife during the daytime of Ramadan," replied the man. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "Give in charity." "I do not have anything to give," replied the man. The man then sat down and in the meantime, there came a person driving a donkey and carrying food (to give to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Then the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, asked: "Where is the burnt person?" "Here I am," replied the man. "Take this (food) and give it in charity," said the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. The man said, "To a poorer person than I? When my family has nothing to eat?" The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, then said: "Then eat it yourselves." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
This Hadeeth indicates that if the person on whose behalf charity is given is poor, he is permitted to take the Fidyah for himself. Consequently, it is permissible to pay the Fidyah on behalf of that woman and also to give it to her and her family as long as they are poor.
Allaah Knows best.
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