What is the expiation for intercourse during a Ramadan fast?

What the expiation is

The obligation is established by the well-known hadith of Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, in which a man came to the Prophet ﷺ having had intercourse with his wife while fasting, and was guided to the expiation. IslamWeb (fatwa 101143) cites it from al-Bukhari and Muslim, and al-Albani's Irwa' al-Ghalil records the same narration through Abu Dawud (2392).

The three steps, in order:

1. Freeing a slave — a believing one, as Ibn Baz specifies.
2. Fasting two consecutive months — the whole of both months, not two days. IslamWeb (fatwa 166233) is explicit that "the two months are the expiation, and the expiation is not fasting two days."
3. Feeding sixty poor people — Ibn Baz gives the measure as half a sa' of the local staple food for each person, roughly a kilo and a half.

You do not move from one step to the next unless you are genuinely unable to perform the one before it. IslamWeb (fatwa 126108) notes that this ordering is the position of the majority of scholars.

Why the order, not a free choice

There is a real difference here, and it turns on how the narration is transmitted. One version, reported by Malik and Ibn Jurayj, uses the word "or" — suggesting a free choice among the three. The stronger transmission, reported by more than thirty narrators of al-Zuhri, uses the sequential wording: "Can you find a slave to free?" — "No" — "Can you fast two months?" — "No" — "Can you feed sixty poor people?"

Ibn Qudamah, in al-Mughni, explains why the sequential version is preferred: the narrators who transmitted it are more numerous, they carry additional knowledge, and the Prophet's ﷺ own words are preserved in it, whereas the "or" version is the narrator's paraphrase. He also notes that the expiation resembles that for zihar and for accidental killing, both of which are ordered. Al-Albani reaches the same conclusion in Irwa' al-Ghalil.

A third report from Malik — that only feeding sixty is required — Ibn Qudamah dismisses outright as contradicting the authentic hadith and resting on no foundation.

If it happens more than once

The Hanbali position, stated by al-Shanqiti in his commentary on Zad al-Mustaqni', distinguishes two cases:

• Repeated within a single day: one expiation only, even if it happened ten times. The reasoning is that the fast was already broken by the first act, so the later acts occurred while the person was not in a state of fasting — and the expiation attaches to intercourse while fasting.
• On separate days: a separate expiation for each day, because each day is its own sanctity and its own violation.

Al-Shanqiti also notes a weaker view that a second expiation becomes due if a person expiates and then repeats within the same day; he rejects it for the reason above. Ibn Uthaymin, in al-Liqa' al-Shahri, states the same principle: "if it is repeated on days, then for each day there is an expiation."

The wife's position

This is where the scholars genuinely differ, and the difference should not be flattened.

Ibn Baz is unambiguous that a consenting wife owes an expiation in her own right, and that if both are unable to free a slave or fast, the sixty poor are fed with thirty sa' from each of them. IslamWeb (fatwas 421711, 126108, 101143) reports two positions among the scholars on whether the expiation binds the wife at all, and recommends she discharge it to be free of the disagreement. Some Malikis hold that if she was forced, her husband discharges it on her behalf.

If you did not know

Ibn Uthaymin addresses the case of a woman who was ignorant that intercourse during the fast is forbidden. His answer: if she truly did not know it was unlawful — as she would not know eating and drinking are unlawful — then nothing is due from her, neither make-up nor expiation. But he adds that this ignorance is unlikely for an adult Muslim. If she knew it was forbidden but did not know what was required of her, she is sinful and the expiation stands.

Key takeaways

• The expiation is freeing a slave, then two consecutive months of fasting, then feeding sixty poor people — in that order, moving on only at genuine inability.
• Repentance and making up the missed day are required alongside the expiation, not instead of it.
• Repeated intercourse within one day carries one expiation; on separate days, one for each day.
• A wife who was forced owes nothing; a wife who consented willingly is subject to a difference among the scholars, and discharging the expiation is the safer course.
• If a person was genuinely unaware that the act was forbidden, nothing is due — but this excuse is narrow.

Further reading

• Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni — the section on the expiation for intercourse in Ramadan
• al-Shanqiti, Sharh Zad al-Mustaqni' — the chapters on what invalidates the fast
• al-Albani, Irwa' al-Ghalil, under hadith 939

And Allah knows best.