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Kaffarah calculator

Work out kaffarah for fasts broken deliberately, with the consecutive fasting option and the feeding option side by side, at a rate you set.

Days broken deliberately

Only fasts broken deliberately without a valid excuse

Where more than one day was broken

Scholars differ on this and the two readings can be many times apart, so it is asked rather than assumed.

If you are feeding

The figure your mosque or a charity publishes for your country

Kaffarah owed

Enter how many days were broken deliberately and both options will appear here.

Check whether kaffarah applies before using this

Kaffarah is for a fast of Ramadan broken deliberately without a valid excuse. It is not what applies to a fast missed through illness or travel, and what counts as deliberate differs between schools. That is a question for someone qualified. This page does the arithmetic once the answer is known.

The two options

Kaffarah is commonly stated as fasting sixty consecutive days, or feeding sixty people in need. The figure sixty is not in dispute, and the tool works out both.

What is disputed is whether they are a free choice. Several schools hold they must be taken in order: fasting first, and feeding only where fasting is genuinely not possible. Others treat them as alternatives. Neither is presented here as the answer, and the options are not ranked on the page.

Consecutive means consecutive

The fasting option is generally stated as sixty days in an unbroken run, and breaking it without a valid excuse usually means starting over. That is worth understanding before beginning rather than sixty days in, so ask about what counts as a valid interruption first.

More than one day

If several days were broken, some hold a separate expiation is owed for each and others that one covers them all. Three days is either three sets of sixty or one, and there is no way to present that as a single number honestly, so it is a setting, and the page says why.

Kaffarah is not fidyah

The two are often confused. Fidyah replaces a fast that cannot be made up. Kaffarah is an expiation for deliberately breaking one. A fast missed for illness or travel is normally made up later and involves neither.

Questions

What is the difference between kaffarah and fidyah?
They answer different situations. Fidyah is for a fast that cannot be made up at all, such as for someone permanently unable to fast. Kaffarah is an expiation for deliberately breaking a fast of Ramadan without a valid excuse. A fast missed through illness or travel is normally made up later and involves neither.
Is it sixty days of fasting or sixty people fed?
Both are stated as options, and the figure sixty is not in dispute. What is disputed is whether they are a free choice: several schools hold they must be taken in order, fasting first and feeding only if fasting is genuinely not possible. This tool shows both without ranking them.
Do the sixty fasts have to be consecutive?
The requirement is generally stated as consecutive, and breaking the run without a valid excuse usually means beginning again. The details of what counts as a valid interruption are worth asking someone qualified about before you start.
If I broke several days, is it one kaffarah or one for each?
Scholars differ, and the answer changes the result several times over. Some hold a separate expiation is owed for each day; others that one covers them, particularly within a single Ramadan. The tool offers both as a setting rather than choosing, precisely because the gap is so large.
Does kaffarah apply if I ate by mistake or was ill?
Kaffarah is for deliberately breaking the fast without a valid excuse. Eating by genuine forgetfulness, or breaking a fast for illness or travel, is a different matter. What counts as deliberate also differs between schools, notably whether eating and drinking carries the same expiation as other acts. Ask someone qualified rather than assuming from a calculator.
Why do I have to enter the cost of feeding someone?
For the same reason as fidyah: it is a local figure based on local food costs, published by mosques and charities and revised each year. Any amount built into this page would be wrong for most of the world.

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