For days ayyāman ‘days’ is in the accusative as the object of al-siyām ‘the fast’ or of an implied yasūmū ‘he fasts’ numbered few or specific in number that is those of Ramadān as will be mentioned below; God has specified a small number as a way of facilitating matters for those under the obligation; and if any of you during the month be sick or be on a journey in which prayers are shortened or if one is strained by the fast in both cases and breaks it then a number of other days equal to the ones during which he broke his fast — let him fast them instead; and for those who are not able to do it to fast on account of old age or chronic illness a redemption which is the feeding of a poor man with about the same amount one consumes in a given day that is one mudd measure of the principal food of that town each day a variant reading has genitive fidyatin as an explicative clause. It is also said that the lā negation of the verb yutīqūnahu is not actually implied because at the very beginning of Islam they could choose between fasting or offering the redemption; but later on this was abrogated by fixing the Fast as an obligation where God says So let those of you who are present at the month fast it Q. 2185 Ibn ‘Abbās said by way of qualification ‘Except for the pregnant one and the one breastfeeding if they break their fast out of concern for the child; in the case of these two the verse remains valid and has not been abrogated’. For him who volunteers good by offering more than the minimum amount mentioned for the redemption; that volunteering is good for him; but that you should fast wa-an tasūmū is the subject is better for you khayrun lakum is its predicate than breaking the fast and paying the redemption if you but knew that this is better for you then do it.
