Short answer
Yes. The kaffarah fast is two consecutive months. In the Hanafi school, if you miss even one day for any reason, including illness or travel, you start again from the beginning. A woman's period does not break the run, but postnatal bleeding (nifas) does. Plan around Ramadan and the days of Eid, which would interrupt it.
The sixty fasts must be continuous. Breaking the sequence, even with an excuse such as illness or travel, or by fasting into an Eid or Ramadan, means starting over. Nifas (postnatal bleeding) breaks it. Menstruation does not break it, since a woman cannot usually avoid it for two months; the days of the period are simply joined on afterwards.
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- Missing days because of illness, or a woman's postnatal bleeding, does not break the sequence; you continue when the excuse ends.
- Hanbali
- An excuse such as illness, menstruation, postnatal bleeding or the days of Eid does not break the sequence; you continue when it ends.
Explanation
The Quran describes the kaffarah fast as two months consecutively, and the Prophet ﷺ used the same words when he told the man who broke his fast in Ramadan to fast two consecutive months. The continuity is part of the kaffarah itself.
What breaks the sequence in the Hanafi school:
- Missing a day deliberately.
- Missing a day through illness or travel. These are excuses for Ramadan, but not for this run.
- Reaching Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha or the days of tashriq in the middle.
- Postnatal bleeding (nifas), since it can be planned around.
- Forgetting the intention at night for a day.
What does not break it: a woman's monthly period. She continues straight after it ends. Forgetfully eating, which does not break a fast at all, does not break it either.
Practical tips:
- Start on the 1st of a lunar month: two lunar months then count, even if they come to 58 or 59 days. If you start mid-month, fast a full 60 days.
- Pick a stretch without Ramadan or Eid, such as the winter months.
- Make the intention for the kaffarah fast each night before dawn.
- If several Ramadan fasts were broken before you paid, one kaffarah may cover them. See one kaffarah for several fasts.
If illness makes sixty days impossible, see feeding sixty people instead.
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 kaffarah fast is defined as two consecutive months.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1936
Sahih... فهل تستطيع أن تصوم شهرين متتابعين ...
"Are you able to fast two consecutive months?"
The kaffarah of Ramadan is two months in a row.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Talaq, chapter on the kaffarah of zihar. If he breaks a day with or without excuse he starts again; menstruation does not cut the sequence.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Talaq, chapter on kaffarah. Nifas cuts the sequence, unlike haid; starting on the first of the month allows two lunar months.
- al-Mughni (Ibn Qudama), Kitab al-Zihar, section on the consecutive fast. The Hanbali view that excuses do not cut the sequence.
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.