Fasting during Ramadan is not obligatory for seriously ill Muslims in Islam. There is clear textual evidence and scholarly consensus on concessions exempting those too unwell to fast without worsening their condition. They must make up the missed fasts when health permits.
The Qur'an established fasting in Ramadan as an unwavering religious obligation for able Muslims, stating:
"So whoever sights [the crescent indicating the new month] among you, let him fast" (2:185).
However, concessions exist for reasonable situations preventing this.
Regarding illness, the Qur'an explains:
"And whoever is ill or on a journey (and finds fasting impossible) - then an equal number of other days (must be fasted later)" (2:184).
This verse indicates those too unwell to endure fasting without exacerbating their condition are wholly exempt, but owe making up missed fasts once health allows.
Correspondingly, an authentic Prophetic narration documented in Bukhari states:
"If one eats forgetfully during Ramadan, they should complete the fast, for Allah fed him and gave him to drink."
Contrastingly, an excused seriously ill person is instructed to break their fast, proving immunity from religious culpability.
The prominent 14th century jurist Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi summarized the scholarly consensus on this, writing "Fasting is not obligatory on the very old or seriously sick" (Al-Mughni) - a viewpoint emphatically reaffirmed by contemporary religious bodies.
Thus, seriously ill Muslims have an unambiguous, unambiguous scriptural sanction to abstain from fasting if it may worsen their health. Concurrently, this emphasizes Islam's balance in demanding neither extreme hardship nor the forsaking of duties without due cause.
Islam fundamentally prioritises avoiding harm and hardship in religious practice. For those Muslims who are seriously ill and unable to fast during Ramadan without worsening their condition, definitive scriptural ahkams (rules) unambiguously excuse them with the sole requirement to makeup missed fasts when their health permits. No sin or blameworthiness applies for abstaining from obligatory fasting due to excluded illness.
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