Kaffarah: Different Obligations and When They Apply

Kaffarah (كفّارة) is an expiation: an act the Quran or Sunnah prescribes after a specific wrong or broken commitment. There is no single kaffarah. Which one applies depends on the cause, and each has its own steps. This guide separates the four you are most likely to meet and tells you where to ask for a ruling when your case is unclear.

The short answer

Fasting that you simply missed is a different matter. Missed days are made up later, not expiated, unless a case below applies.

Kaffarah for a broken oath

This is the one most readers need. Allah says He will not hold you to thoughtless oaths but to deliberate ones, and the penalty for breaking such an oath is to feed ten poor people from what you usually feed your family, clothe them, or free a slave. Whoever cannot afford any of these fasts three days (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:89).

Two points follow from the text:

• It applies to a deliberate oath. A careless slip of the tongue is addressed separately in the same verse.
• The first three are options. You choose one; fasting is for someone who cannot afford any of them.

The Prophet ﷺ also told us that if you swear an oath and then see something better, you should do the better thing and make expiation for your oath (Bukhari 6622; Muslim 1650a). Breaking a promise to do something good is not the goal; the expiation covers the oath you took.

Kaffarah for intercourse during Ramadan

A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said he had had intercourse with his wife in Ramadan. The Prophet ﷺ asked in order whether he could free a slave, fast two consecutive months, or feed sixty poor people. The man could do none, and when dates were brought, the Prophet ﷺ told him to give them in charity and then to feed his family with them (Muslim 1111a).

Scholars differ on how far this ruling extends to other deliberate breaking of a Ramadan fast, so if you broke a fast on purpose in another way, ask a qualified scholar rather than assuming. For everyday cases, such as eating forgetfully or a missed day because of illness, see what is sawm and does vaping break your fast.

Other expiations you may hear about

• Zihar: the expiation follows the sequence in Surah Al-Mujadila, 58:3-4: free a slave before the couple touch, otherwise fast two consecutive months, otherwise feed sixty needy people.
• Killing by mistake: Surah An-Nisa, 4:92 combines freeing a believing slave and blood-money to the victim's family, with fasting two consecutive months for those unable. This is a legal matter, not a private one.
• Shaving during pilgrimage: a pilgrim who is ill or has a scalp ailment may compensate by fasting, charity or a sacrificial offering (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:196).
• Fidyah is not the same thing. Fidyah is the compensation of feeding a needy person for those who can only fast with extreme difficulty (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:184). Many people confuse it with kaffarah.

How to carry it out

• Start from the cause. Decide which situation you are in, then use only that expiation.
• Follow the stated order or options. Some are an order (try the first, then the next), others are a choice, as above.
• Know the cost in your place. The sources give the acts, not a universal cash value. Rulings on how many meals or how much food count, and on paying money in place of food, vary by school and region, so ask a local scholar or your mosque rather than relying on a number from a website.
• Fasting must meet the conditions. Where fasting is required, it must be the continuous kind the verse or hadith describes.
• Repent as well. Expiation is an act of repentance; it does not replace seeking Allah's forgiveness.

If your case does not match any of these, use the answers tool for general reading, then take your specific situation to a qualified scholar. And Allah knows best.