Lesson 3 of 6 · The concession is a ruling, not a downgrade
Fasting is treated differently from prayer
Keep these two apart, because people run them together and then get frightened.
Prayers missed in nifas are not made up. Missed Ramadan fasts are made up, on the ordinary rule for a person who had an excuse, at a time you can manage. Not now, and not while you are in the state this course is about.
Being told to make up fasts is not a punishment either. It is the standard treatment of a fast that was legitimately not kept, and the Qur'an states it plainly for the person who is ill or travelling: on other days later.
The report below carries both limbs of the distinction in a single sentence. They were ordered to make up the fasts, and they were not ordered to make up the prayers.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Being told to make up fasts is not a punishment. It is the standard treatment of a fast that was legitimately not kept, stated plainly for the person who is ill or travelling. On other days later.
أَيَّامࣰ ا مَّعۡدُودَٰتࣲۚ فَمَن كَانَ مِنكُم مَّرِيضًا أَوۡ عَلَىٰ سَفَرࣲ فَعِدَّةࣱ مِّنۡ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَۚ وَعَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ يُطِيقُونَهُۥ فِدۡيَةࣱ طَعَامُ مِسۡكِينࣲۖ فَمَن تَطَوَّعَ خَيۡرࣰ ا فَهُوَ خَيۡرࣱ لَّهُۥۚ وَأَن تَصُومُواْ خَيۡرࣱ لَّكُمۡ إِن كُنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ
Fast for a specific number of days, but if one of you is ill, or on a journey, on other days later. For those who can fast only with extreme difficulty, there is a way to compensate- feed a needy person. But if anyone does good of his own accord, it is better for him, and fasting is better for you, if only you knew
Qur’an 2:184
And this report carries both limbs of the distinction in a single sentence. They were ordered to make up the fasts, and they were not ordered to make up the prayers.
Aishah narrated:"We would menstruate during the time of the Messenger of Allah, then when we became pure we were ordered to make up the fasts but we were not ordered to make up the Salat
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 787graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.