'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : ((fast) a certain number of days) 30 days; (and (for) him who is sick among you, or on a journey, (the same) number of other days) let him fast the same number of days he missed; (and for those who can afford it) afford to fast (there is a ransom: the feeding of a man in need-) let him feed a person in need, instead of every day of the fast that he missed, half a measure of wheat. but this is abrogated by allah's saying: (and whoever of you is present, let him fast the month). it is also said that this means: those who can afford a ransom and are not able to fast, old men and women who are unable to fast, they should feed a needy person, for every missed day of fast in ramadan, half a measure of wheat. (but whoso doeth good of his own accord) gives more than two pounds, (it is better for him) in terms of reward: (and that ye fast is better for you) than giving ransom (if ye did but know-)
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : for days (ayyāman, ‘days’, is in the accusative as the object of al-siyām, ‘the fast’, or of an implied yasūmū, ‘he fasts’) numbered, few or specific in number, that is, those of ramadān, as will be mentioned below; god has specified a small number as a way of facilitating matters for those under the obligation; and if any of you, during the month, be sick, or be on a journey, in which prayers are shortened, or if one is strained by the fast in both cases and breaks it, then a number of other days, equal to the ones during which he broke his fast — let him fast them instead; and for those who are, not, able to do it, [to fast] on account of old age or chronic illness, a redemption: which is, the feeding of a poor man, with about the same amount one consumes in a given day, that is, one mudd measure of the principal food of that town each day (a variant reading has [genitive] fidyatin as an explicative clause. it is also said that the [lā] negation of the verb [yutīqūnahu] is not actually implied, because at the very beginning of islam, they could choose between fasting or offering the redemption; but later on this was abrogated by fixing the fast [as an obligation], where god says, so let those of you, who are present at the month, fast it [q. 2:185]: ibn ‘abbās said [by way of qualification] ‘except for the pregnant one and the one breastfeeding, if they break their fast out of concern for the child; in the case of these two, the verse remains valid and has not been abrogated’). for him who volunteers good, by offering more than the minimum amount mentioned for the redemption; that, volunteering, is good for him; but that you should fast (wa-an tasūmū is the subject) is better for you (khayrun lakum is its predicate), than breaking the fast and paying the redemption, if you but knew, that this is better for you, then do it.
