Not Being Able to Fast at the Beginning of Maturity

 

Not Being Able to Fast at the Beginning of Maturity
8. A young girl has reached the age of shar‘ī puberty. However; she cannot fast in the month of Ramadan due to her weak constitution. She is also unable to perform the qaḍā’ of the missed days of fasting until the next Ramadan. What is the ruling in this situation? 
  A: Not being able to fast nor to observe its qaḍā’ does not remove its obligation of performing the qaḍā’ for the missed fasts just because of weakness and inability. Rather, the qaḍā’ of the missed days of fasting in Ramadan will remain obligatory for her. 

9. What is the ruling for those girls who have recently reached maturity and find it somewhat difficult to fast? Is nine years the age when girls become mature?
A: As famous, the legal age of maturity for girls starts at the completion of nine lunar years, hence it is obligatory for them to fast. It is not permissible to forsake fasting due to some excuse. However, if fasting becomes harmful for them or involves unbearable hardship, it is permissible for them to break the fast.

10. A nine-year old girl, upon whom it is obligatory to fast, breaks her fast because fasting is too hard for her. Does she have to perform the qaḍā’ of the fast?
A: Yes, she has to perform the qaḍā’ of the Ramadan fast that she broke.

11. I did not fast after reaching the age of maturity until I was twelve years old, because I was physically too weak to do so. What should I do now in this regard?
A: You should perform the qaḍā’ for the days of fasting that you did not perform after becoming ritually mature. And if you deliberately — voluntarily and without a shar‘ī excuse — did not fast, then you have to pay the kaffārah as well.

12. A person, at the outset of the age of shar‘ī puberty, is not able to fast due to physical weakness and inability. Is it enough for him to perform the qaḍā’ of the fast, or he is required to offer the kaffārah as well?
A: If fasting does not cause unbearable hardship for him yet he breaks the fast intentionally, then he has to perform qaḍā’ and pay kaffārah as well. If he fears he may fall ill due to fasting, he is only obligated to perform the qaḍā’ fasts

Source: Hadana adopted from the Istiftaat of the Grand Ayatollah Khamenei