OLD AGE Ocia1214
OLD AGE
      `Ulama have different opinions as regards old people:
    Some `ulama are of the opinion that if an old man is unable to fast, he may break the fast provided he feeds a poor man for each day he breaks the fast. This is what is meant by the term fidyah.
 
   Others said that an old person was free not to observe the fast without fidyah) on the strength of the Quranic verse "On no soul does God place a burden greater than it can bear."

    The stipulation regarding old persons applies to persons afflicted with incurable illnesses.

    Sheikh Muhammad Abdu (a prominent scholar and one time rector of Al-Azhar) was of the opinion that people engaged in hard manual work like mining, or prisoners sentenced to hard labour, may break the fast if they can afford the fidyah.
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