Pregnancy and childbirth during Ramadan

26/06/2013| IslamWeb

Question:

I am 5 months pregnant and insha Allah will give birth in Ramadan. Do I have to make up the days which I can't fast due to pregnancy, or can I feed the poor people instead? Also, I still have 6 days to make up from last Ramadan, and I don't know if I will be able to fast them before the coming Ramadan.

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, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

A woman who is breast-feeding a baby or is pregnant and expects harm to herself or her child (due to fasting) may omit fasting and make it up later. She has to fast a day in place of each day missed. The same applies to her when she omits her fast fearing for her child. However, if she breaks her fast fearing for her child alone then she has to make up the missing days in addition to giving an expiation for each day missed and offering the expiation to the needy.

As for the six days of the previous Ramadan. If she was still pregnant or could not fast due to any serious illness or due to her breast feeding her baby, then she should make up for these missed fasts after the coming Ramadan. If there was a period following the last Ramadan when she could fast, but did not fast without any legal reason and after that period she became pregnant and was not able to fast before the coming Ramadan, then she must make up the missed days and she must offer an expiation for each day.

We ask Allah to bless you and your children.

Allah Knows best.