Islamic · Kaffarah
Kaffarah Calculator
Work out the expiation cost for a broken Ramadan fast or a broken oath, based on the number of people to feed.
Step by step
How Kaffarah is worked out
Choose the type
A broken fast requires feeding 60; a broken oath requires feeding 10.
Enter the cost per person
Typically two meals, or a day's food, per person.
See your total
Cost per person × the required number of people.
Or consider the fasting alternative
If feeding isn't possible, a fasting substitute applies.
Reading the result
Kaffarah and fidya answer different failures
These get mixed up constantly, and the amounts are nowhere near each other.
- Fidya is for a fast a person is genuinely unable to keep and cannot make up later — chronic illness, old age. It feeds one person for each missed day.
- Kaffarah is expiation for deliberately breaking a fast of Ramadan without a valid excuse. The established position is fasting sixty consecutive days, or, where that is not possible, feeding sixty people for one missed day.
Sixty against one is the whole point: the second is expiation for a deliberate act, not a fee for skipping.
Missing a fast is not automatically kaffarah
A fast missed through travel, illness, menstruation or genuine necessity requires qada — making up the day later. No kaffarah arises. Kaffarah is a narrow category, and assuming it applies to every missed fast produces a very large and unnecessary figure.
Oaths are a separate calculation
Expiation for a broken oath is not the Ramadan kaffarah. It is feeding or clothing ten people, or fasting three days if that is not possible. Using the sixty-person figure for a broken promise is a common and expensive error.
Where this stops
The money is a conversion of a feeding obligation, so the rate depends on what an average meal costs where you are. Whether a particular act broke a fast in a way that triggers kaffarah at all is a question of fiqh, not arithmetic — ask before you calculate.
If the answer is fidya rather than kaffarah, use the fidya calculator.
FAQs
Kaffarah FAQs
What is Kaffarah?
Kaffarah is an act of expiation required for certain violations — most commonly breaking a Ramadan fast without a valid excuse, or breaking a sworn oath.
How many people must be fed for a broken Ramadan fast?
Traditionally 60 poor people, each given a day's food (or two meals) — or, if that isn't possible, fasting 60 consecutive days instead.
How many people must be fed for a broken oath?
Traditionally 10 poor people, fed or clothed — or, if that isn't possible, fasting 3 days instead.
Can I pay cash instead of providing food directly?
Many scholars accept the cash equivalent of the food value being given to the poor or to a trusted Islamic charity to distribute on your behalf — confirm with a scholar or charity for your specific case.
Related tools
Also due your annual Zakat?
Kaffarah is separate from Zakat on wealth — work that out with the full Zakat Calculator.
Open Zakat Calculator