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Fatwa CenterHow To Make Up For Missed Fasts
Question
As Salamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!Alhamdulillah, I have become muslim last year. I come from a family of "ethnic" (secular,communist,modern) muslims, nostalgic of ussr, this type of muslims claim to be ones, though completely ignorant of all the rulings and because of that despise them. and when i teach them they call me wahabist extremist fool.my parents object me for observing prayers, they've fought me several times, asked me to quit salah.when last Ramadan came, i as a muslim had an intention to fast, and of course mom was angry with me. but since she lives in another town i had fasted in secret for 3 complete days until i had a severe constipation. at that time we had to go to another city. i was afraid to fast afterwards, so i missed about 20 days. after that delay i had begun fasting and caught up the last 9 days.now i still have this debt of 20 days and totally confused about what to do with it.advice me, please. how can i get rid of this debt and sin? (i'm a student, unemployed, therefore i cannot feed/dress the poor, besides we're poor ourselves).forgive me my lenghty messed up letterthank youmay Allah azzawajal reward you with goodness.
Answer
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, sallallaahu`alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we praise Allah, the Almighty, that you have embraced Islam and supplicate to Him, the Exalted, to make us all steadfast to the Right Path until we meet Him. As for the days in which you broke your fasting, you are obliged to make up for them before the next month of Ramadan comes, stressing that you should beware of breaking your fasting except for a valid, legal excuse, such as illness, travel, menses or postnatal period. However, you are not required to feed the needy (by means of expiation for breaking your fasting) unless another month of Ramadan enters. At the same time, you did not make up for these days by kind of negligence – a point at which you should feed one needy for every day in which you broke your fasting (for no valid, legal excuse), according to the opinion of a group of scholars.
As for how to expiate for the sin of the days in which you broke your fasting for no valid, legal excuse, this will be realized through making sincere repentance by showing remorse for breaking your fasting in them and showing determination that you would never break your (obligatory) fasting for no valid, legal excuse. So, if you fulfill these conditions of repentance, Allah, the Almighty, will forgive you. Allah Almighty says, {But indeed, I am the Perpetual Forgiver of whoever repents and believes and does righteousness and then continues in guidance} [Quran, 20:82] and {But whoever repents after his wrongdoing and reforms, indeed, Allah will turn to him in forgiveness. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.} [Quran, 5:39] The Prophetic Hadith also reads, “One who repents from sin is like someone without sin.” [Ibn Maajah]
You should also know that you are not allowed to obey your parents in not observing prayers, fasting, or any other prescribed act of worship; a point evidenced by the Hadeeth of the Prophet 
who said, “A creature is not to be obeyed when it involves disobedience to the "Creator.” [Ahmed in his Musnad] You should furthermore do your best in calling your family to Islam and to attempt to save them from the Hellfire since if they die on that condition of hating and forsaking prayer and fasting, they would be in great danger. You should be keen on guiding your parents more than anyone else, employing all possible means to achieve this goal. While doing so, you should not forget supplications, since it is a great door forgotten by many people. Many are indeed the people guided to the Right Path by virtue of a sincere supplication made by a sincere heart. So, strive in making supplication for Allah to guide them; we ask Allah to open their hearts to Islam.
Allah knows best.
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