Fidyah Rate for Missed Fasts of the Previous Years?

If One Has to Pay Fidyah for Missed Fasts of Previous Years, Which Year’s Rate Will be Considered?

Darulifta Ahlesunnat (Dawateislami)

Question

What do the noble scholars and jurists of Islamic law say about the following: We wish to pay the fidyah of the missed fasts of a deceased. Will we consider the price of sadaqah al-fitr of the year in which the fasts were missed, or the price of the current year (the year that we are paying the fidyah)?

Answer

بِسْمِ اللہِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ

اَلْجَوَابُ بِعَوْنِ الْمَلِکِ الْوَھَّابِ اَللّٰھُمَّ ھِدَایَۃَ الْحَقِّ وَالصَّوَابِ

In light of the principles of sharī’aĥ, the value of Zakah, sadaqah al-fitr, Kaffarat (expiations), etc., is considered of the day that they became wajib, not according to the day that they are paid. For example, the price of sadaqah al-fitr for wheat was Rs. 100 five years ago, and it was not paid despite it being wajib. Now that they wish to pay it, the price of sadqah al-fitr has doubled. In this case, the sadqah al-fitr must be paid according to the rate of five years ago, i.e., Rs. 100.

Having mentioned this detail, the answer in the inquired situation is that sadaqah al-fitr must be paid according to the price of the year in which the deceased had missed the fast. It is not necessary to give the sadaqah al-fitr according to the price of the current year, i.e., in which it is being paid. Therefore, calculate the price of sadaqah al-fitr for the year the fasts were missed, verify it with a reliable, Sunni, Sahih-ul-‘Aqeedah Mufti, then pay the fidyah accordingly.

Thus, it is stated in Tanwir Al-Absar Wa Al-Durr Al-Mukhtar:

(وجاز دفع القيمة في زكاة وعشر وخراج وفطرة ونذر وکفارۃغیر الاعتاق)وتعتبر القيمة يوم الوجوب

(Al-Durr Al-Mukhtar Ma’a Radd Al-Muhtar, Book of Zakah, Chapter of cattle, Vol. 3, p. 250, Publ. Quetta)

Answering a question asked regarding the fidyah of fasts, A’la Hazrat, The Imam of Ahl-us-Sunnah, Imam Ahmad Raza Khan رحمة الله تعالى عليه (d. 1340 AH/1921 CE) writes:

قیمت میں نرخ بازار آج کا معتبر نہ ہوگا جس دن ادا کررہے ہیں،بلکہ روزِ وجوب کا،مثلاً اُس دن نیم صاع گندم کی قیمت دو آنے تھی،آج ایک آنہ ہے،تو ایک آنہ کافی نہ ہو گا، دو آنے دینا لازم اور (اگر اُس وقت ) ایک آنہ تھی،اب دوآنے ہوگئی،تو دو آنے ضرور نہیں،ایک آنہ کافی۔

Translation: The market price for today, i.e., the day it is being paid, will not be considered, but instead, the day that it became wajib. For example, the price of half a saa’ of wheat on that day was two ‘aana’ (an old currency unit), but the price today is one ‘aana’. So, one ‘aana’ will not be sufficient; it will be necessary to pay two ‘aana’. But if it was one ‘aana’ at that time, but now it has become two ‘aana’, it is not necessary to pay two ‘aana’; one ‘aana’ is sufficient. (Fatawa Razawiyah, Vol. 10, p. 531, Publ. Raza Foundation, Lahore)