Expiation for accidental killing by someone unable to fast

A question about someone who caused a death unintentionally and cannot fast because of strenuous work, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department set out the relied-upon Shafi'i view that the fast remains owed and the opposing view that he moves on to feeding sixty poor people, and concluded that there is no objection to his feeding them by following the latter view. ¹

The questioner asked what is required of someone who caused a death unintentionally and was unable to fast because of strenuous work. ¹

The Department answered that the relied-upon view in the Shafi'i school, which is the majority view, is that someone unable to fast in the expiation for killing does not move on to feeding but the fast remains owed by him; if he dies, his heirs choose between fasting for him and feeding sixty poor people, keeping to the wording of the text. ¹ It quoted al-Khatib al-Shirbini in Mughni al-Muhtaj that in expiations the text is followed, not analogy, and that God mentioned only freeing a slave and fasting in the expiation for killing. ¹ It said hardship, or an illness that makes fasting extremely hard, allows the fast to be delayed until he is able, citing al-Nawawi in al-Majmu that an expiation not caused by wrongdoing, such as that for accidental killing, may be delayed without disagreement. ¹ It set out the other view among the Shafi'is, as reported by al-Shirazi, and the other view among the Hanbalis, as reported by Ibn Qudama in al-Mughni: someone unable to fast feeds sixty poor people, a mudd each, by analogy with the expiations for zihar and for intercourse during a Ramadan day. ¹ It said this view may be adopted for fatwa because it achieves the purpose of expiation in covering the sin and making good the shortfall, and concluded that there is no objection to someone unable to fast feeding sixty poor people, following the view opposite the relied-upon Shafi'i one and the other Hanbali view. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3935, dated 30 December 2024. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.