Fidya and kaffarah: understand the difference

Temporary illness, travel and other valid reasons can involve making up a fast later. Permanent inability can involve fidya. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, recovery and delayed make-up fasts have additional differences between schools. Discuss health with a clinician and the religious obligation with a qualified scholar.

For a case where fidya is due, establish the number of relevant days and your chosen provider’s per-day feeding rate. The GBP rate varies; it is not fixed forever.

Published rates for Ramadan 2026 ranged from £4 to £7 per day for fidya, so 30 days came to £120–£210. Kaffarah, where feeding is the permitted route, was £240 to £420 per fast. The difference is the meal each organisation prices.

Rates as shown on each organisation’s own page when checked in September 2026. Kaffarah rates assume feeding 60 people (60 × the meal rate); fasting 60 consecutive days comes first where a person is able. Confirm the current rate and applicability with your provider and a scholar.

Whether kaffarah applies depends on the act and circumstances, with differences between schools. For relevant fasting violations, the expiation may involve a prescribed order including fasting and, where the conditions permit, feeding 60 people in need. Do not present payment as an unconditional alternative to fasting.

Repeated violations and the number of expiations require a ruling; a count of missed days is not necessarily the number of feeding obligations. This site’s feeding estimator only multiplies a confirmed obligation by a chosen cost.

Confirm that the recipient organisation can fulfil the required feeding and timing conditions. A general medical donation does not automatically fulfil a feeding obligation. Keep these payments separate from Zakat al-Mal and from voluntary Sadaqah.