Summary: In the beginning of my bulugh, due to carelessness, and lack of information on religious precepts, I didn’t fast for several years. Does it suffice that I only make up the days I missed or do I have to give kaffarah as well?
Question:
In the beginning of my bulugh, due to carelessness, and lack of information on religious precepts, I didn’t fast for several years. Does it suffice that I only make up the days I missed or do I have to give kaffarah as well?
Answer:
If a person was unaware of his bulugh (religious puberty) or the obligation of fasting at that time, or thought that he didn’t bear the strength to fast, even if this conception developed as a result of what those around him would tell him, then deliberate breaking of the fast will only entail qada (making up for the missed fasts). However, if in all of these cases, he knew that there are chances that he has become baligh or that fasting has become mandatory for him, or that he bears the strength to do so and it was possible for him to confirm the matter and to become certain or sure, and it turns out that it was indeed so, then he must also give kaffarah as a precaution (ihtiyat) as well.
If a person has deliberately and without a religiously sanctioned excuse broken his fast, in addition to making up for that fast, he must also give/do kaffarah, regardless of whether he knew that such an act will entail kaffarah or not.[1]
Footnote
[1] Tawdih al-Masa’il (annotated by Imam Khomeini), vol. 1, pg. 984.
Source: www.islamquest.net/en