Fidyat al-adha (expiation for shaving/removing hair during ihram out of illness or harm)
Fidyat al-Adhā (also called Fidyat al-Halq)
Overview
This is the 'expiation of choice' owed by someone who shaves or removes hair while in ihram out of illness or harm: a free choice between fasting three days, feeding six poor people, or sacrificing a sheep. It goes back to the case of Ka'b ibn 'Ujrah (RA).
The three mutually-exclusive options (the pilgrim picks one):
- •Fast three days.
- •Feed six poor persons, half a sa' of food to each — 3 sa' in all, called a faraq. The sa' is a measure of volume, about 3 litres, so its weight follows the staple: at the roughly 3 kg to the sa' that Ibn Baz and the Permanent Committee work with, that is about 1.5 kg per person and 9 kg in total.
- •Slaughter a sheep or goat (nusuk). By qiyas the fuqaha extend this same 'fidyah of choice' to other comfort-type violations of ihram committed out of need — e.g., wearing sewn / fitted garments, covering the head (men), applying perfume, or clipping nails — treating them like the shaving in Qur'an 2:196.
Qur'an
PRIMARY — Surah Al-Baqarah:'فَمَن كَانَ مِنكُم مَّرِيضًا أَوْ بِهِۦٓ أَذًى مِّن رَّأْسِهِۦ فَفِدْيَةٌ مِّن صِيَامٍ أَوْ صَدَقَةٍ أَوْ نُسُكٍ'— 'And whoever among you is ill or has an ailment of the head [requiring shaving] — then a ransom (fidyah) of fasting or charity or sacrifice.' This ayah is the textual basis: three alternative forms of compensation for one who must shave while in ihram.
'فَمَن كَانَ مِنكُم مَّرِيضًا أَوْ بِهِۦٓ أَذًى مِّن رَّأْسِهِۦ فَفِدْيَةٌ مِّن صِيَامٍ أَوْ صَدَقَةٍ أَوْ نُسُكٍ'Reference · Qur'an 2:196
Hadith
- •one narration in both Sahihs, via 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla (RH): the Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'Perhaps your lice have troubled you?' Ka'b (RA) said, 'Yes, O Messenger of Allah.' He (ﷺ) said, 'Shave your head and then either fast three days, or feed six poor persons, or slaughter a sheep as a sacrifice' (Arabic:'احْلِقْ رَأْسَكَ وَصُمْ ثَلَاثَةَ أَيَّامٍ، أَوْ أَطْعِمْ سِتَّةَ مَسَاكِينَ، أَوِ انْسُكْ بِشَاةٍ').References · Sahih al-Bukhari 1814 · Sahih Muslim 1201aGrade · Sahih — muttafaq 'alayh (agreed upon)
- •via 'Abdullah ibn Ma'qil (RH): Ka'b said 'This [ayah] was revealed concerning my case specifically, but it is general for you all,' and the Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'Fast three days, or feed six poor persons, each poor person half a sa' of food' (Arabic:'لِكُلِّ مِسْكِينٍ نِصْفَ صَاعٍ') — this narration fixes the feeding amount at half a sa' per person.Reference · Sahih al-Bukhari 1816Grade · Sahih (al-Bukhari; the half-sa'-per-person detail)
Applies to 'Umrah unchanged. The fidyah of Ka'b ibn 'Ujrah (RA) — fast three days, feed six poor people, or slaughter a sheep — is owed by an 'Umrah pilgrim who has to remove hair before the tahallul because of illness or harm, on exactly the same terms as in Hajj.
Tied to the state of ihram, not to a specific Hajj type — it applies in Tamattu', Qiran, and Ifrad, and also in 'Umrah. Whoever is in ihram (for Hajj or 'Umrah) and shaves/removes hair out of illness or harm owes this same fidyah of choice.
The Hajj/'Umrah remains valid — shaving out of harm is a permitted concession, not a rite that can be 'omitted' and not, by itself, sinful. What is owed is the fidyah itself, which becomes a due obligation (a debt) that must be discharged by one of the three options: fast 3 days, or feed 6 poor persons (half a sa' of food each), or slaughter a sheep. If a person shaved without genuine need, the same fidyah is owed and the act was also sinful.
The fidyah becomes due from the moment the prohibited shaving/hair-removal is done, and it may be discharged at that time or thereafter; there is no fixed calendar window like the days of nahr. The fasting option in particular may be performed at any time (before or after the shaving on the day of need).
Fasting: no place restriction — it may be done anywhere. The sacrifice (nusuk) option and the feeding attached to it: the majority tie the slaughter to the Haram of Makkah with distribution to its poor (as with hady), whereas some (notably parts of the Hanafi school, and citing that the Prophet (ﷺ) had Ka'b do it at al-Hudaybiyah) permit the feeding/slaughter of this particular fidyah to be carried out wherever the person is.
- •Believing one must slaughter a sheep when in fact fasting or feeding is an equally valid free choice
- •Thinking shaving under genuine illness/harm is sinful (it is a permitted concession, only the fidyah is owed)
- •Feeding fewer than six poor persons or giving less than half a sa' each
- •Confusing this fidyah of choice with the dam of Tamattu' (dam shukr) or with the compensatory dam (dam jabr) for omitting a wajib
- •Assuming the whole Eid sacrifice back home covers it
No divergence between the four schools is recorded for this act in this reference.
The ayah was revealed specifically about Ka'b ibn 'Ujrah (RA) at al-Hudaybiyah, 'but it is general for you all' (Sahih al-Bukhari 1816). Minor school divergence on details (not on the three options themselves): the feeding measure — Hanafis reckon it like sadaqat al-fitr (half a sa' of wheat, or a full sa' of dates/barley per person), while others fix half a sa' of any staple; and whether the three fast days must be consecutive. On converting the sa' at all: it measures volume, not weight, so no single figure is exact for every food — grains differ in density and new grain weighs more than old. The measured volume is about 3 litres to the sa' (four mudd, at 0.75 litres each). For weight, Ibn Baz and the Permanent Committee work with roughly 3 kg, putting the faraq near 9 kg; Ibn 'Uthaymin's 2100 g puts it near 6.3 kg. A precise-looking 2.172 kg circulates in English from a Permanent Committee fatwa, but it was inserted by the translator and is absent from the Arabic original, so it should not be quoted as the Committee's position. This is a 'fidyah of choice' (takhyir); contrast it with (a) the hady/dam of Tamattu' and Qiran, which is a dam of gratitude (dam shukr), and (b) the dam of omitting a wajib (dam jabr, a compensatory penalty). Do not confuse 'fidyat al-adha' (adhā = harm/ailment, from Qur'an 2:196) with 'fidyat al-Adha' as if referring to Eid al-Adha — despite the transliteration overlap they are unrelated.