Fiqh tools
Kaffarah Calculator
Pick the type of expiation and see the amount and cost in your currency right away.
The short answer
Broken oath: feed 10 poor people or clothe them. If you cannot, fast 3 days.
1Which expiation?
2How many times?
Oaths on different matters
3Your country and how you will feed
An estimate for your country. Edit it if yours differs.
Can it be paid in cash?
The majority (Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali) hold that food is owed, not money, while the Hanafis allow its value. The cost shown is for buying the food, or for a trusted charity you appoint to buy and distribute it.
Not a kaffarah
Broke the fast by eating or drinking on purpose?
Repent and make up the day. The major expiation is for intercourse in the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools; Hanafis and Malikis also require it for deliberate eating.
Not a kaffarah
The elderly and the chronically ill
This is fidyah, not kaffarah: feed one poor person per day, with no make-up fast.
Read the fasting rulingsSurah Al-Ma'idah 5:89
Verified recitation
لَا يُؤَاخِذُكُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِٱللَّغْوِ فِىٓ أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ وَلَٰكِن يُؤَاخِذُكُم بِمَا عَقَّدتُّمُ ٱلْأَيْمَٰنَ ۖ فَكَفَّٰرَتُهُۥٓ إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَٰكِينَ مِنْ أَوْسَطِ مَا تُطْعِمُونَ أَهْلِيكُمْ أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ أَوْ تَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍۢ ۖ فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلَٰثَةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ كَفَّٰرَةُ أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ إِذَا حَلَفْتُمْ ۚ وَٱحْفَظُوٓا۟ أَيْمَٰنَكُمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ لَا يُؤَاخِذُكُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِٱللَّغْوِ فِىٓ أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ وَلَٰكِن يُؤَاخِذُكُم بِمَا عَقَّدتُّمُ ٱلْأَيْمَٰنَ ۖ فَكَفَّٰرَتُهُۥٓ إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَٰكِينَ مِنْ أَوْسَطِ مَا تُطْعِمُونَ أَهْلِيكُمْ أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ أَوْ تَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍۢ ۖ فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلَٰثَةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ كَفَّٰرَةُ أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ إِذَا حَلَفْتُمْ ۚ وَٱحْفَظُوٓا۟ أَيْمَٰنَكُمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
Documented educational information. For special cases, ask a local mufti.
The three expiations: when they are due and how to pay them
A kaffarah is an act of worship that erases the effect of a specific violation. Each has its evidence and its order.
Expiation for a broken oath
- Due when you deliberately swear by Allah about a future matter, then break it.
- No expiation for idle oaths said without intent, such as "No, by Allah".
- You choose between feeding ten poor people, clothing them or freeing a slave.
- Whoever cannot afford any of these fasts three days.
- Oaths on different matters each need an expiation; repeating an oath on one matter needs one.
Intercourse during a Ramadan fast
- Established in the hadith of the Bedouin, Sahih al-Bukhari 1936 and Sahih Muslim 1111.
- In order: free a slave; if not possible, fast two consecutive months; if unable, feed sixty poor people.
- The day must also be made up, and each day it happened has its own expiation according to the majority.
Expiation for zihar
- Zihar is a husband saying to his wife "You are to me like my mother's back" or similar.
- Its expiation, in Surah al-Mujadilah, follows the same order: freeing, then two consecutive months of fasting, then feeding sixty poor people.
- It is performed before the couple touch.
How much does each poor person get?
- Half a sa' of the local staple, about 1.5 kg, the estimate of the Permanent Committee and Ibn Baz.
- One mudd, a quarter sa', in the Maliki and Shafi'i schools.
- Many scholars accept serving them a filling lunch or dinner instead.
- For an oath the food goes to ten different people, not all to one.
Sources
- Quran 5:89 and 58:3-4.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1936 and Sahih Muslim 1111.
- Fatwas of the Permanent Committee and Ibn Baz on the feeding amount.
- Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni, chapter on oath expiation.
Frequently asked questions