Debits and Credits: Female Fasting Accounting

Many of you either knew, or now know, about fasting during Ramadan. But there is much more to the thirty days of fasting than first meets the eye. For example, children who cannot handle fasting do not fast, nor do elderly people, or those with serious medical conditions. Business travelers may not have to fast, and those employed in certain types of jobs may qualify for fasting exemptions. Pregnant or nursing women do not fast, and women are not supposed to fast when they are on their periods.

Sounds nice, right ladies? One small advantage exchanged for a week of PMS or nine months of a big belly?

But sadly, it is not so simple, and thus the title above.

For women, and in some situations for men too, these non-fasting days do not disappear. They accumulate. Every day of Ramadan spent pregnant, breast-feeding, or on your period is still a fasting day that must be made up later. So if you become pregnant the month before Ramadan, have your baby nine months later, breastfeed for eighteen months, and then have regular monthly periods, you will miss three 30 day cycles of fasting and interrupt the forth cycle. This means 100 days of fasting must be made up before you stop fasting due to old age. And not only do you have to make up these days, you must keep track of them—a daunting task in itself!

Of course, whether you fast at all is really between you and Allah, including these make-up days. Depending on the level of comfort with Allah, and the level of concern about fulfilling obligations in this life, before meeting Allah in person after death to do a final accounting of all earthly actions, I believe individuals have different accounting methods of varying accuracy. That is Allah’s business.

What I can speak to here are the accounting practices of several women I know. One lady is quite stringent, keeping track to the day how many more make-up days she has from three pregnancies and cycles of breastfeeding, her periods over the last twenty years, and days made up so far. Her current account balance is forty-five left to go to break even before the next Ramadan. Since she is migrating to Canada next year, and is terrified of the cold, this particular lady has decided to make up her fasting days before next summer. With forty-five days left, at least ten periods between now and then, and eliminating weekend days because she does not want to fast when her kids are home (it makes her too angry), she has quite a task! I think she fasts one day a week, and sometimes two.

Another woman is a more relaxed type. She is not sure how many days she has to make up from her two kids and fifteen years or so of periods. She says she will get to it eventually, Insha’allah. This lady is noticeably more relaxed than Lady A.

So ladies, which type of accounting philosophy would you subscribe to in this situation?