Qadāʾ is the make-up obligation for worship missed for a valid excuse. For a Shia woman, the most common case is fasts missed during Ramadan because of hayd. Every such fast is recorded as qada and must be performed later.
Daily prayers vs. fasts
A foundational distinction in Shia fiqh:
- Daily prayers missed during hayd are NOT made up. A. Sistani’s general exemption (Ruling 1355) says the woman owes nothing for the five daily prayers she missed while in hayd.
- Ramadan fasts missed during hayd ARE made up. The exemption from the fast does not waive the obligation; it defers it.
- Ayat prayer (salat al-ayat) missed during hayd: this is a known marja-divergence point. A. Sistani says no qada; A. Khamenei (following Khomeini’s Tahrir al-Wasilah) requires qada.
When qada must be done
Per A. Sistani: missed Ramadan fasts must be made up before the next Ramadan. If they are not made up by then due to a valid excuse (illness, pregnancy, breastfeeding), you owe fidya in addition to the still-outstanding qada.
How Tuhr (the app) handles qada
The Tuhr app keeps a running qada list for every Shia woman from her first install. Whenever a Ramadan day is classified as hayd, a make-up entry is added automatically. Six weeks before the next Ramadan, a notification reminds the user to schedule make-up fasts. The app generates a proposed schedule that avoids her predicted period days, and writes the entries directly to her phone’s native calendar.
Tools
- Qada fast estimator. Back-of-envelope total.
- Fidya calculator. What you owe if you cannot make up the qada in time.
Primary sources
- A. Sistani · 1355 Prayers missed during hayd or nifas are not made up
With regard to someone who has not performed his daily prayers within their prescribed time, he must make them up even if he slept throughout the prescribed time or did not perform them on account of being intoxicated. The same applies to any other obligatory prayer that was not performed within its prescribed time, even, based on obligatory precaution, those prayers that had become obligatory at a specific time on account of a vow. However, the prayers of Eid al‑Fiṭr and Eid al‑Aḍḥā cannot be made up, and the prayers that a woman does not perform while experiencing ḥayḍ or nifās are not required to be made up, irrespective of whether they are the daily prayers or other prayers. The rule concerning ṣalāt al‑āyāt will be mentioned later.
- A. Sistani · 459 Daily prayers missed during hayd are not made up; Ramadan fasts are
A woman does not have to make up those prayers that she did not perform while she was in the state of ḥayḍ; however, she does have to make up those fasts of the month of Ramadan that she did not keep while she was in the state of ḥayḍ. Similarly, based on obligatory precaution, she must make up any fasts that were obligatory for her at a particular time on account of a vow and which she did not keep while she was in the state of ḥayḍ.
- A. Sistani · 1697 Pregnancy fasting exemption. Fidya plus qada
Fasting is not obligatory for a pregnant woman approach ing the time of delivery if it is harmful for her or the unborn child. Such a woman must give one mudd of food to a poor person for each missed fast, and she must make up the fasts she did not keep.