Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Uthaymīn [d. 1421 AH] said:
We say that if fasting causes harm to a sick person, then it would be ḥarām for that sick person to fast.
If someone was to say: ‘What is the measure of [this] harm?’
We say [in answer]: Harm [referred to here] is conceptualised with the senses and with that which has been related to us. As for the senses: It is for the sick person to recognise that fasting is causing him harm, [or] the causative factor of the pains he experiences, [or] obligates a delay in his recovery or anything that holds similarity [to these factors]. As for t…
Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn [d. 1421] said:
[Q]: Is it better for a traveller or a sick person to fast or not?
[A]: We say: It is best for them both to do what is easiest for them. For if there is some harm that comes to either of these categories of people due to fasting, fasting then becomes impermissible, for the saying of the Most High:
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا ﴿٢٩﴾
‘And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.’
[Al-Nisāʾ, 4:29]
This āyah proves that whatever causes harm to a person is forbid…
