Skip to content
ToolShelf

Fidyah calculator

Work out fidyah from the number of fasts you cannot make up and the rate your local mosque or charity gives, with the working shown.

How many fasts

A full month if that is what applies

Your local rate

The figure your mosque or a charity publishes for your country

The obligation is described as food rather than money, and the measure differs. Local rates are usually based on one of these:

One mudd
Roughly 750g of a staple food per missed fast. Cited by several schools as the measure for fidyah.
Half a sa'
Roughly 1.5kg of a staple food per missed fast, about double the mudd. Also widely cited.
Two meals
Some organisations quote fidyah as the cost of two meals, or of feeding one person for a day.

Fidyah due

Enter how many fasts you are paying fidyah for, and the rate your mosque or charity gives.

This works out an amount, not whether you owe it

Whether a missed fast is made up later or replaced by fidyah depends on why it was missed, and scholars differ on several of those cases. Ask someone qualified. This page does the multiplication once you know the answer.

What fidyah is

A payment made in place of a fast that cannot be made up, most often for someone permanently unable to fast. It is reckoned as feeding one person in need for each fast missed, so the sum is simply the number of fasts multiplied by whatever feeding one person costs where you are.

Why no amount is built in

Because there is not one to build in. The obligation is expressed as a quantity of staple food, not as money, and the quantity itself is given differently: one mudd and half a sa’ are both cited, and they differ by roughly double. The cash equivalent is then a matter of local food prices, which is why mosques and charities publish their own figure for their own country and revise it each year.

A number hardcoded into this page would have been wrong for most of the world on the day it was written, and wrong everywhere within a year. So the tool asks for yours.

Finding your rate

Your local mosque or a national relief charity will publish one each Ramadan. Use the figure for the country you are in rather than converting one from elsewhere. It is based on local food costs, so converting it defeats the point.

What the tool contributes

The multiplication, and a clear record of it: the number of fasts, the rate you entered, and the total those produce. Nothing is assumed, and nothing is rounded away . The working is there so you can check it against what your mosque tells you.

Questions

What is fidyah?
A payment made in place of a fast that cannot be made up, for someone permanently unable to fast, for instance. It is reckoned as feeding one person in need for each fast missed.
Why does the tool not tell me the amount?
Because there is no single amount. The obligation is described as a quantity of staple food rather than a sum of money, the quantity is given differently by different schools, and the cash equivalent depends on local food prices and changes every year. Any figure shipped inside this page would be wrong for most of the world on the day it was written.
Where do I find my local rate?
Your local mosque, or a national relief charity. Most publish a fidyah figure each Ramadan for their country. Use theirs rather than converting one from elsewhere, since it is based on local food costs.
What are a mudd and a sa'?
Old measures of volume used to express the obligation. A mudd is roughly 750g of a staple food and half a sa' roughly 1.5kg, though the weight varies with what is being measured. Different schools cite different measures for fidyah, which is part of why local rates differ.
Does fidyah apply to me, or should I make the fast up?
That depends on why the fast was missed. An illness expected to pass is treated differently from a permanent one, and there are cases scholars differ on. It is not something a calculator can determine, ask someone qualified, and use this once you know fidyah applies.
Can I pay for a whole month at once?
The arithmetic is the same either way: the number of fasts multiplied by the rate. How and when it is paid is a separate question, and worth asking your mosque or the charity you are giving through.

More tools