Fidyah for delaying making up Ramadan fasts for over a year
16-2-2016 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaykum. I understood from the fatwas to which you have refered me that I am allowed to extend the time period of making up my missed fasts until after Ramadan 1437. I was unaware that I had to pay a fidyah (expiation) (if I did not fast within a year), but I knew that I had to make up for them, so do I have to pay a fidyah (given that I did not fast within a year? I did not know that I had to fast within a year anyway)? Also, do I have to pay a fidyah for Ramadan 1437. I will not be able to (God willing) complete all the fasts. If I do have to pay, then can I do that after I start earning money, because I am shy to ask my father to pay such a huge amount? Please give a personal reply. Please.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
If it is permissible for a person to delay making up the days of fasting that he had missed until after the next Ramadan for a legitimate excuse, then he is not obliged to pay a fidyah (ransom) as long as he had an excuse for the delay. So then, he is only required to make up for those days without paying a fidyah.
However, if a person does not have an excuse for delaying making up the missed days, then, according to the view that we adopt here in Islamweb, he should make up the missed days and pay a fidyah. Indeed, you know better whether or not you had an excuse for the delay.
If you were not aware of the obligation of making up for the missed days before the beginning of the next Ramadan, then according to our view at Islamweb, you are not required to pay a fidyah because you were ignorant of this fact.
Al-Minhaaj from the Shaafi'i School of jurisprudence, reads, “If someone delays making up for the missed days of Ramadan while being able to make up for them before the next Ramadan starts, then along with making up for them, he is obliged to give out a mudd (750 grams of foodstuff) for each day.” The commentator of this book, Ahmad ibn Muhammed ibn ‘Ali ibn Hajar Al-Haytami, said in his commentary, “Al-Athra’i said, 'If he delays it due to forgetfulness or ignorance, then he is not required to pay a fidyah; as understood from the statements of the scholars;' the meaning is the ignorance of the prohibition of delay even if one socializes with the scholars because this matter is not known.”
If a person is obliged to pay a fidyah, and he is insolvent, then he remains liable to pay it whenever he becomes able to pay, and he is not exempted from paying because of not being able to do so.
Al-Mardaawi 
said in Al-Insaaf, “An adult person is not exempted from feeding, as well as a person who lost hope in fasting due to incompetence; and a person who delayed making up the missed days of Ramadan or any other day is also not exempted from feeding.”
Allaah knows best.