How fidyah differs from qada and kaffarah, who owes it, and how the daily amount is worked out.
Published September 12, 2026 · Reviewed by the Ihsabha Editorial Team
Fidyah (فدية) is a feeding payment made in place of fasting, for people who are not able to fast and are not expected to regain that ability. It's easy to confuse with qada (making up missed days later) or kaffarah (a heavier expiation for a deliberate violation) — but each applies in a genuinely different situation, and mixing them up is one of the most common points of confusion during and after Ramadan. This guide covers the Quranic basis for fidyah, exactly who it applies to, how the daily amount is calculated, how it compares to qada and kaffarah, and how to handle less obvious situations like recovering unexpectedly after paying it.
Fidyah is rooted directly in the Quran, in Surah al-Baqarah (2:184), which permits those who find fasting genuinely difficult — traditionally understood by scholars to mean the elderly and the chronically ill whose condition isn't expected to improve — to feed a poor person for each day missed, rather than fasting or making up the day later. This is distinct from the general concession for illness or travel described a few verses earlier, which points toward qada (making up the day later) rather than fidyah, precisely because that concession assumes the person will regain the ability to fast eventually. This naturally leads to a related question, answered in Zakat on Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin: How Much You Owe. For an instant, practical check, the Fidyah Calculator is ready to go.
Fidyah generally applies to three groups:
This is different from someone who is only temporarily unable to fast — due to short-term illness, travel, or menstruation, for example — who instead makes up the missed days later through qada once able, since the underlying assumption behind fidyah is specifically that the ability to fast will not return, not merely that it's currently absent.
The classical unit behind fidyah's calculation, the mudd, originates from the Prophet's ﷺ own household measure — roughly the amount that fills two cupped hands — and was historically used as a standard dry-measure unit across many areas of Islamic law, including kaffarah and zakat al-fitr as well as fidyah. Because a mudd was originally a volume measure rather than a weight measure, and grains vary somewhat in density, contemporary scholars and fiqh councils have converted it into approximate weight equivalents (commonly cited as roughly 500–750 grams of a staple grain per mudd) to make it practical for modern calculation. This is also why you'll sometimes see slightly different weight figures cited by different sources — they're not disagreeing about the underlying unit, just using slightly different conversions or staple foods as the reference point. For practical purposes, using a current local calculator or checking with a local scholar for the accepted regional equivalent removes the need to work through the historical conversion yourself. You may also find it useful to check Zakat on Salary and Employment Income: How Much You Owe, which covers a related angle.
Fidyah is specifically a feeding payment for the poor and needy, similar in spirit to zakat's recipient categories though not identical to them in every technical respect. In practice, this means fidyah should go to someone who is genuinely in need of food assistance — a local charity that distributes meals, a food bank, or directly to a needy family are all common and valid channels. Many mosques and Islamic charities run dedicated fidyah collection programs specifically during and around Ramadan, which simplifies the process considerably for people who would otherwise need to identify eligible recipients themselves. As with zakat, most scholars hold that fidyah generally shouldn't be given to one's own direct dependents (a spouse or children one is already obligated to support), since that would effectively redirect an obligation back to oneself rather than genuinely reaching someone in need outside the household. Rather than working this out by hand every time, the Fidyah Calculator can handle the whole calculation for you.
It's worth separating two situations that sometimes get conflated. Age-related frailty that genuinely makes fasting harmful or unreasonably difficult — the classical basis for elderly fidyah eligibility — is different from a physical disability unrelated to fasting ability itself, such as a mobility impairment that has no bearing on whether someone can safely abstain from food and water for the day. Many people with disabilities can fast completely normally; fidyah eligibility hinges specifically on whether the medical reality of fasting itself poses genuine harm or hardship, not on disability status in a general sense. This distinction matters because assuming any disability automatically qualifies someone for fidyah, without connecting it specifically to fasting-related hardship, can lead to skipping an obligation that a person is actually capable of fulfilling through qada instead.
The standard amount is the cost of feeding one poor person a moderate, filling meal — commonly estimated as roughly 0.75–1 kg of a staple food (wheat, rice, or a local dietary staple), or its cash equivalent based on current local prices — for each day of fasting missed. This measure traces back to the classical unit called a mudd (roughly a double handful), with some scholars specifying one mudd per day and others specifying two, which is part of why the estimated weight range varies somewhat between different guidance sources. Many people default to the more generous, cautious estimate — feeding at a level that would genuinely satisfy someone for the day — rather than the bare minimum interpretation, particularly since the underlying purpose of fidyah is to actually feed someone in need, not simply satisfy a technical minimum.
In practice, most people today pay the cash equivalent rather than literally distributing food, since it's more practical for both the giver and typically more useful for the recipient, who can then purchase what they specifically need. If you want to go further, Zakat on Retirement Accounts and Pension Funds explains this point in more depth.
A useful way to keep them straight: qada asks "when can you make this up?", fidyah asks "since you genuinely can't ever make this up, what do you owe instead?", and kaffarah asks "you broke this deliberately without excuse — what's the much heavier expiation for that?" To save time, enter your values into the Fidyah Calculator and get an instant result.
Fidyah can be paid as a lump sum covering all missed days at once, spread across individual daily payments throughout or after Ramadan, or — for someone who already knows in advance they won't be able to fast at all that month, such as a person with a permanent chronic illness — paid upfront for the entire expected month before Ramadan even begins. There's no specific religious deadline requiring it to be paid during Ramadan itself, though many people choose to pay it promptly rather than delay, both as a matter of good practice and to ensure the person in need receives support in a timely way. It's also worth reading Zakat on Cash and Bank Savings: How Much You Owe if this situation applies to you.
Suppose someone missed 20 days of Ramadan due to a long-term illness with no expected recovery, and the local cost of a moderate meal is $5. Fidyah due: 20 days × $5 = $100, payable at once or spread across the days, commonly given to those in need before or during the missed days, or after Ramadan.
A second example — advance payment. A person with a permanent chronic condition knows before Ramadan begins that they won't be able to fast any of the 30 days that year. At a local meal cost of $6: 30 × $6 = $180, which they choose to pay in a single donation before Ramadan starts, covering the entire month in advance.
Get your exact total in seconds. Ihsabha's Fidyah Calculator multiplies your missed days by a current local meal-cost estimate, so you know exactly what to pay. If your situation instead involves making up missed days through fasting, our Missed Fasting Days Calculator tracks your outstanding qada days.
This is a genuinely common real-world question: someone reasonably believed their illness was permanent, paid fidyah accordingly for the missed days, and then unexpectedly recovers, whether through treatment, remission, or simply better health than anticipated. In this situation, most scholars hold that the person does not need to also make up the missed days with qada, since fidyah was a valid, fully sufficient substitute at the time it was paid, based on a reasonable expectation at that time — Islamic law generally doesn't require reopening a settled obligation because circumstances later changed unexpectedly for the better. Going forward from the point of recovery, of course, the person resumes fasting normally like anyone else.
Fidyah is generally owed by those who cannot fast and are not expected to regain the ability later, such as the elderly or the chronically/terminally ill. Some scholars also extend it to pregnant or breastfeeding women who fear for their health or their child's, depending on the school of thought.
Typically the cost of feeding one poor person a moderate meal (or its cash equivalent) for each day of fasting missed, based on local food prices.
Qada is making up a missed fast day by fasting it later, once able. Fidyah is a feeding payment used instead of qada, for those who are not expected to become able to fast again.
Fidyah is rooted directly in the Quran (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:184), which permits those who find fasting genuinely difficult to feed a poor person instead, a concession scholars link specifically to the elderly and chronically ill.
Fidyah can be paid as a lump sum covering all missed days, spread across individual payments, or paid in advance for an entire expected Ramadan if someone already knows they won't be able to fast at all that month, such as a person with a permanent illness.
If someone genuinely expected to never regain the ability to fast, paid fidyah accordingly, and then unexpectedly recovers, most scholars hold they do not need to also make up the days with qada, since fidyah was a valid substitute at the time it was paid based on their reasonable expectation.
Fidyah should go to someone genuinely in need of food assistance, such as through a local charity, food bank, or directly to a needy family, similar in spirit to zakat's recipient categories. Most scholars hold it generally shouldn't be given to one's own direct dependents, since that would effectively redirect the obligation back to oneself.
Eligibility for fidyah — particularly for pregnancy and breastfeeding — varies between schools of thought, and the exact meal-cost estimate can vary by region and local food prices. This guide covers the general, widely-followed approach. For your specific medical or personal circumstances, confirm with a qualified local scholar.
Put this into practice with Ihsabha's Kaffarah Calculator and Zakat al-Fitr Calculator. For related reading on Ihsabha's blog, see Qada Fasting: How to Make Up Missed Ramadan Days, Kaffarah: When It's Owed and How Much, and White Days Fasting (Ayyam al-Beedh): A Complete Guide.