Fidyah
Fidyah is payment for fasts missed in the holy month of Ramadan. Though fasting is prescribed and therefore obligatory for Muslims in Ramadan, Islam makes dispensations for people with specific conditions who are unable to fast.
People who are categorized as those who are unable to fast and are required to pay fidyah include; (1) pregnant or breastfeeding women, (2) elderlies and (3) people who have acute or chronic illness with no hope of recovery.
Fidyah is giving meals to the poor for every day that you cannot fast, with a dose of 1 mud (more than 6 ounces) of staple food. The provision of this measure is based on a narration from Ibn ‘Abbas, “Anyone who is very old, who is unable to fast Ramadan, and then he gives fidyah a day as much as one mud of wheat.” [HR. Bukhâri]. Imam al-Baihaqi issued a similar history from the companions of Ibn Umar.
You can pay your fidyah yourself by cooking meals to be distributed to the poor. Or you can pay your fidyah through Dompet Dhuafa USA, and we will arrange to get food to distribute to the poor.
In 2021 we paid your fidyah by distributing iftar packets to ojek drivers, street sweepers, waste pickers and homeless people in the streets of Cikarang, a suburb south of Jakarta. One of the people we met on the arounds around Jababeka township in Cikarang was Pak Amir. He was pulling a wagon filled with cardboard boxes that he sifted through from the trash at factories in the industrial area, one of many people working outside in the hot sun while fasting. When Pak Amir received his packet, his tired face beamed, and he smiled so wide you could see his teeth.
If you are paying fidyah for missed fasts in the previous Ramadan, please send your payment to us at the latest by three days before the start of Ramadan to give us enough time to distribute your fidyah before it is due.
