Aoa. I feel ashamed to say that 2 years ago during ramadhan i had intercourse with someone during fasting, twice or three times, don't remember the exact times. I wasn't a very good Muslim then but Alhamdullillah I have corrected my ways and embraced my religion more strongly and have been trying to rectify my mistakes since then . I have been asking forgiveness for all my sins including pre marital sex. I was not sure of its implications on mu fast and never tried looking for it. However only yesterday I found out for sure that it breaks the fast and there is a penalty i.e. fasting for 60 consecutive days or feeding 60 people 2 meals. I am a medical student with a huge burden of studies and i am also scared that my family and people around me will realize that i have been fasting for 60 consecutive days and might find out the reason behind it as I won't be able to lie. On top of that I get regular migranes which has made it difficult for me fast in general. I wanted to ask whether is it possible for me to feed 60 people instead of keeping the fasts? And since I don't know how many times i carried out that act do I just feed 60 people or more (or fast 60 days or more). If i do have to fast, can i still continue after menstruals? Please kindly help me. May ALLAH give you the Ajar for it . Ameen JazakAllah

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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

There is absolutely no doubt that Zina is one of the major sins and breaks the fasting, and that in Ramadan it is a greater sin. However, if you are truthful in your repentance to Allaah The Almighty, then He The Exalted will accept it from you. Allaah The Almighty says (what means): {Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allaah. Indeed, Allaah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."}[Quran 39:53]

As for the conditions of repenting from that sin, it is to give up the sin, regret it, and resolve not to go back to it as clarified in Fatwa 86527. If you fulfill those conditions, then rejoice for Allaah The Almighty will accept your repentance.

As for fasting, it is obligatory upon you to make up for the day that was broken by sexual intercourse and you have to offer expiation as well according to the opinion of most scholars. Some of them said expiation because of intercourse is obligatory on the man only and not obligatory on the woman and you may adopt that opinion. It was stated in Al-Mawsoo‘ah Al-Fiqhiyyah: "There is no difference of opinion among scholars that sexual intercourse invalidate the fasting of the woman because it is one of the things that break the fasting. Thus, the man and the woman are the same in that regard. However, scholars hold different opinions regarding the obligation of expiation upon the woman. Abu Haneefah, Maalik, Ash-Shaafi‘i in one of his opinions and Ahmad in one narration (from him) which is the adopted opinion of the Hanbali scholars, hold that expiation is obligatory upon her as well because she broke the fasting of Ramadan by intercourse and thus the expiation becomes obligatory upon her like the man... According to one of the opinions of Ash-Shaafi‘i which is the most correct (in the Shaafi‘i school) and another narration from Ahmad, she does not have to offer expiation because the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ordered the man who had sexual intercourse in Ramadan to free a slave while he did not order the woman to do anything although he knew that she shared the violation with him, and because intercourse is his action while she is the one who received the action. In another opinion of the Shaafi‘i scholars, expiation is obligatory upon her but the man bears it." [End quote]

The expiation is to free a slave; if that is not possible then you have to fast for two consecutive months; if you are unable to do that, then you must feed sixty poor persons. You have to abide by that sequence and not to move to the option of fasting unless you are unable to free a slave, and not to move to the option of feeding unless you are unable to fast.

Moreover, expiation cannot be waived from you because you were ignorant of its obligation as long as you knew well the prohibition of intercourse. Az-Zarkashi (a Shaafi'i scholar) said in Al-Manthoor: "If someone said, I knew the prohibition of sexual intercourse, but I did not know the obligation of expiation, it (the expiation) is still obligatory upon him by consensus. This was mentioned by Ad-Daarimi and others. An-Nawawi said in Sharh Al-Muhaththab: "It is the most preponderant opinion." Also, Ad-Dardeer (a Maaliki scholar) said: "As for being ignorant of its obligation (i.e. the expiation), while knowing its (i.e. sexual intercourse's) prohibition, this does not waive it."

Furthermore, the expiation is obligatory for every day broken by intercourse. Accordingly, if intercourse occurred on two days, then two expiations will be obligatory and if it occurred on three days, then three expiations will be obligatory. If it is repeated on one day, then fasting of one day was broken and thus only one expiation will be obligatory.

Dear sister, what you have stated that you fear that your family will discover your matter if you observe fasting is not a valid excuse to give up fasting. Also, it is not permissible for you to move from the option of fasting to that of feeding unless you are unable to fast in the real sense or if fasting is too difficult for you to observe or it causes harm to you. If fasting is obligatory upon you, then you will have to fast for sixty consecutive days for every day whose fasting was broken by intercourse. If menses occurs to you, then you have to stop fasting because fasting of the menstruating woman is invalid. When menses ends, then continue your fasting directly after being pure. Again, if you do not know the number of days on which fasting was broken, there is no way out but to estimate them. So, try hard to estimate them and fast what you are certain of or predominantly think that it is obligatory upon you.

Finally, if it is permissible for you to move from fasting to feeding, then you have to feed sixty poor persons for every day. For more benefit, kindly refer to Fatwa 89541 about the expiation of sexual intercourse during the daytime of Ramadan and that the expiation is required in the mentioned sequence. You may also refer to Fatwa 85516 about when ignorance of the ruling can be a valid excuse that exempts one from sin and expiation.

We ask Allaah The Almighty to accept your repentance.

Allaah Knows best.