Short answer
Only if you truly cannot fast. In the Hanafi school the kaffarah for breaking a Ramadan fast is in a set order: with freeing a slave no longer possible, fasting 60 days in a row comes first, and feeding 60 poor people is allowed only for someone unable to fast, such as through chronic illness or old age. Being busy or finding it hard is not enough. The Maliki school lets you choose, and prefers feeding.
The kaffarah of Ramadan follows the order of the hadith: fasting two consecutive months; if unable, feeding sixty poor people two satisfying meals each, or giving each half a sa' of wheat (or one sa' of dates or barley) or its value. Paying the value in money is valid in the Hanafi school.
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- The three options are a free choice, not an order, and feeding sixty poor people is the best of them.
- Shafi'i
- The order is the same as the Hanafi one, but feeding means giving each poor person one mudd of food in kind; cash is not accepted.
- Hanbali
- The order is the same as the Hanafi one, but feeding must be given in food (a mudd of wheat or half a sa' of other staples per person); cash is not accepted.
Explanation
When a man told the Prophet ﷺ that he had had intercourse with his wife in Ramadan, he was asked first whether he could free a slave, then whether he could fast two consecutive months, and only then whether he could feed sixty poor people. The Hanafi school takes this order as binding: you move to the next option only when you cannot do the one before.
Who counts as unable to fast? Someone with an illness that sixty days of fasting would worsen, the elderly, or someone whose health makes a long run of fasts dangerous, preferably on the advice of a trustworthy doctor. Fear of hardship at work, a demanding job or simply finding it difficult does not count. Short days in winter make the sixty days easier for many people.
How feeding works:
- Sixty different poor people, two full meals each (lunch and dinner, or suhoor and iftar); or
- Give each of the sixty the amount of sadaqat al-fitr, in food or its cash value; or
- Give one poor person that amount every day for sixty days.
- Giving one person the whole amount on a single day counts only as one day.
- Do not give it to your parents, grandparents, children or spouse. Give to those eligible for zakat. See who can receive zakat.
If you can do neither, the kaffarah stays as a debt until you are able, and you keep making istighfar. You still make up the broken day itself. Use the kaffarah calculator to work out current amounts, and see fasting the 60 days.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Mujaadila 58:4
فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ شَهْرَيْنِ مُتَتَابِعَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَتَمَآسَّا ۖ فَمَن لَّمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَإِطْعَامُ سِتِّينَ مِسْكِينًۭا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ لِتُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ۚ وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَلِلْكَٰفِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿٤﴾
And he who does not find [a slave] - then a fast for two months consecutively before they touch one another; and he who is unable - then the feeding of sixty poor persons. That is for you to believe [completely] in Allah and His Messenger; and those are the limits [set by] Allah. And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment.
The same order of fasting first, then feeding, appears in the kaffarah of zihar, which the scholars compare to it.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1936
Sahih... هل تجد رقبة تعتقها ...
"Can you find a slave to free? Then can you fast two consecutive months? Then can you feed sixty poor people?"
The kaffarah of Ramadan follows an order, moving to feeding only when fasting is impossible.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what requires qada and kaffarah. The kaffarah of Ramadan is like that of zihar, in the same order.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Talaq, chapter on the kaffarah of zihar. Feeding sixty poor people two meals each or half a sa' of wheat each, or its value.
- Mukhtasar Khalil with al-Sharh al-Kabir, Bab al-Siyam, section on kaffarah. The Maliki choice between the options with feeding preferred.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.