Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > The expiation (kaffara) for intercourse in Ramadan
The great expiation for deliberate intercourse on a day of Ramadan: its sequential order established by the hadith, its conditions and details.
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Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: "I am ruined: I had intercourse with my wife in Ramadan." The Prophet asked him: "Do you have the means to free a slave?" He said no. "Can you fast two consecutive months?" He said no. "Do you have the means to feed sixty poor persons?" He said no. The Prophet remained silent, then a basket of dates was brought to him; he said: "Where is the one who asked? Take this and give it as charity." The man said: "To someone poorer than me, O messenger of Allah? By Allah, there is no family between the two lava fields of the village poorer than mine." The Prophet laughed until his canines showed and said: "Then feed it to your family" (Muslim 1111, al-Bukhari 1834; Malik's wording in al-Muwatta 657).
The major expiation is thus: freeing a slave, or fasting two consecutive months, or feeding sixty poor persons, like the kaffara of zihar.
The Hanafis and the Malikis impose it for every deliberate break through eating or drinking, together with the make-up: the fast legally entails abstention from food and intercourse, and the common point is profaning the sacred month. Abu Hanifa adds a condition: the thing consumed must nourish or treat; swallowing a pebble or a pit does not entail the expiation (two narrations exist from Malik). The Shafi'is and the Hanbalis impose the make-up alone: the heavy expiation is reserved for intercourse. Ibn Rushd explains the divergence by the validity of qiyas between eating and intercourse; and he answers the argument drawn from the hadith of the man who broke his fast in Ramadan (reported in al-Muwatta): the words "he broke his fast" remained unqualified, without specifying how.
The Hanafis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis (famous view) require the order: free first; otherwise fast two consecutive months; otherwise feed sixty poor persons, as shown by the Prophet's questioning (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the hadith of the bedouin. The Malikis and Ahmad (in one narration) allow choosing among the three, on the "or" of the hadith reported by Abu Hurayra in al-Muwatta; and among the Malikis feeding is preferable to freeing and to fasting.
All the fuqaha agree: whoever has intercourse one day, discharges, then does so again another day owes a second expiation. If he repeats before discharging: the Malikis, the Shafi'is and Ahmad (in his two soundest narrations) impose two expiations, for each day is an independent worship and the cause has repeated; the Hanafis and Abu Bakr among the Hanbalis (al-Khiraqi's apparent choice) impose only one, like the hadd that overlaps before being carried out.
The expiation of Ramadan is the heaviest in fasting: it concerns only intercourse according to two schools, and any deliberate break according to the two others. The order of the three paths is followed by the majority; one who cannot manage any of them feeds sixty poor persons with food he eats himself, as the end of the hadith shows.
No: it is reserved for voluntary daytime marital intercourse in Ramadan; all other breaks oblige one day's makeup only.
Feeding sixty poor (one average meal each) per most schools; the incapable person's way.
Yes per the majority: one kaffara per day voluntarily broken this way.
No: she makes up the days (and pays fidya by caution per some scholars); kaffara targets intercourse, a case not applying in this necessity situation.