He said: If he is not able [to fast]. It was said: Like a fever? He replied: And what illness is more severe than a fever! It was narrated from some of the predecessors that they permitted breaking the fast for any illness, even for a toothache or a finger pain, due to the generality of the verse regarding it, and because the traveler is permitted to break the fast even if he does not have a need for it, so likewise is the sick person. Our position is that he is present for the month and fasting does not harm him, so it is obligatory upon him, like the healthy person. The verse is specifically restricted to both the traveler and the sick person, by the evidence that the traveler is not permitted to break the fast during a short journey. The difference between the traveler and the sick person is that the traveler is a circumstance (mazinnah) in which the ruling was considered, which is long-distance travel, where it was not possible to consider the wisdom (hikmah) itself, for minor hardship does not permit [breaking the fast], and there is no fixed standard in itself for great hardship, so it was considered by its circumstance, which is long-distance travel, and thus the ruling revolves with the circumstance in existence and non-existence. Illness, however, has no fixed standard; for illnesses vary, among them is that for which fasting harms the patient, and among them is that for which fasting has no effect, such as a toothache, a wound on a finger, a boil, a minor sore, scabies, and the like. Thus, illness did not serve as a fixed standard, while it was possible to consider the wisdom, which is that from which harm is feared, so it became obligatory to consider it by that (2). Once this is established, if the sick person endures and fasts despite this, he has committed a reprehensible act (makruh), because of what it entails of harming himself and abandoning the alleviation of Allah Almighty and accepting His concession (3). His fast is valid and suffices him, because it is a definitive ordinance (azimah) whose abandonment is a concession; so if he endures it, it suffices him, like the sick person who is permitted to miss the Friday prayer when he is present for it, and the one who is permitted to abandon standing in prayer when he stands during it.

Section: The healthy person (4) who fears illness by fasting is like the sick person who fears that his illness will increase in terms of the permissibility of breaking the fast; for the sick person was only permitted to break the fast out of fear of what might be renewed by his fasting,