The following things permit one to refrain from fasting:

(1) Extreme old age which renders a person decrepit.

(2) Sickness. If there is danger to life or if the fast will cause the sickness to deteriorate, it will be permissible to abstain from Saum.

(3) Pregnancy, if the health or life of the mother or child is threatened.

(4) Breast-feeding, if the baby is dependent thereon and if the Saum causes the milk to dry out.

(5) Journey. A musafir (one who has undertaken a journey of 48 Islamic miles or more) is permitted to abstain from fasting. Forty eight Islamic miles equal 88 kilometres.

(6) Haidh (menses). The Saum of a woman in the state of haidh is not valid. She has to make qadha after Ramadhan.

(7) Nifas (post-natal blood). The Saum of a woman in the state of nifas is not valid. She has to make qadha after having attained tahaarath (purification - when nifas ends).