Elderly Parents and Ramadan: Practical Help for Families

Ramadan with elderly parents brings different questions: can they fast at all, what happens to the blood-pressure tablets, how do they read a timetable in eight-point type, and how do they stay part of the month when the masjid is cold and the nights are late. This guide takes those questions in turn, with practical steps for the family doing the helping. Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on Monday 8 February 2027 (the date in your country depends on moon sighting or the local authority and may differ by a day).

Fasting, or fidyah instead

The Qur'an provides for this situation directly. Those who are sick or travelling make up the days later; and for those who can fast only with great difficulty, there is a ransom: feeding a poor person for each day (the meaning of 2:184). The verse after it says that Allah intends ease, not hardship (2:185).

The elderly fall into three broad groups:

Which group a parent is in is a question for them, their doctor and a scholar they trust, in that order of fact-finding: the doctor says what fasting would do to their health, the scholar says what follows from that. The missed fasts, qada and fidyah article has the detail on both routes.

A worked fidyah example

Suppose a masjid sets the local fidyah at £5 per day (your masjid's figure will differ). Ramadan 1448 is expected to be 29 days. A father who cannot fast at all pays 29 × £5 = £145, as money to a charity that feeds people, or as actual meals. Many families give it at the start of the month; some give it day by day. If he manages to fast some days, fidyah is paid only for the days missed.

One thing to say to a parent who feels they are "not doing Ramadan": fidyah is worship. The Qur'an names it. A person who pays it has obeyed the same verse as the person who fasts.

Medicines and the doctor

Do not work this out yourselves. Two to four weeks before Ramadan, book an appointment and ask three questions:

1. Is fasting safe for this person, with these conditions?
2. Which medicines can be moved to suhoor (before Fajr) and iftar (after Maghrib), and which cannot?
3. What symptoms mean the fast must be broken immediately?

The NHS publishes general Ramadan advice and recommends that people with long-term conditions speak to their GP or pharmacist before fasting. For diabetes, the IDF-DAR Practical Guidelines sort people into risk categories and give guidance that doctors in many countries use; a person in the highest-risk category is advised not to fast. The fasting and health conditions guide summarises both, in general terms only. Medical decisions belong to the doctor.

Some practical points that families find useful:

• Pharmacists can often switch a twice-daily tablet to a once-daily version, which fits iftar.
• Write the new timings on a card beside the pill box: "Blood pressure: at iftar, 17:30. Water tablet: at suhoor, 05:00."
• Dehydration is the main February risk even in short fasts; plan water at suhoor, at iftar and before bed.
• A fast broken for health reasons is made up later or covered by fidyah; it is not a failure.

A large-print timetable

Standard timetables are printed for young eyes. Make a large one:

1. Open the Ramadan timetable for their city and the calculation method their masjid uses (the printing guide explains how to check).
2. Print at A3, or at A4 in two halves (days 1–15 and 16–29) so the type stays large.
3. Highlight only the two columns they need most, imsak/Fajr and Maghrib, with a marker.
4. Put one copy on the fridge and one by the bed, where they take their medicines.

If their masjid has its own printed timetable on the Ramadan noticeboard, use that so their times match the mosque clock.

Phone setup

A phone that announces the prayer times removes most of the daily uncertainty. In 20 minutes you can:

• Turn on the large text and bold text settings, and raise the ringer volume.
• Install a prayer-times app, set the city and the masjid's method, and switch on the adhan for Maghrib and the pre-Fajr reminder at a volume they can hear from the kitchen.
• Add a 15-minute iftar warning so that dates and water are ready.
• Put a shortcut to the family group chat and to the masjid's live stream on the home screen.
• Write the steps on paper: "To hear tarawih: tap the green square."

The praying when ill or elderly article covers how prayer itself adapts; the hadith in Bukhari 1117, pray standing, else sitting, else lying on your side, is the rule for every age.

Keeping them part of the month

The hardest thing about Ramadan for many elderly people is not the fast but the feeling of being on the edge of it. Some things that help:

• Iftar together, or by video. The family iftar is the heart of the month. If distance stops it, a video call set up on a stand at the table works surprisingly well.
• A job. Soaking the dates, choosing the surah for the children, leading the dua before iftar. Being needed is better than being visited.
• Tarawih with a chair. Every masjid has chairs; sitting for the prayer is fine for those who cannot stand. If the nights are too cold or too late, praying a few rak'ahs at home after Isha counts fully.
• Transport on Fridays and in the last ten nights. Rota the grandchildren.
• The Qur'an by ear. A speaker in the kitchen playing a juz' a day lets a parent whose eyes have failed still hear the whole Qur'an in the month.

The Qur'an pairs worshipping Allah with kindness to parents and asks us not to say even "uff" to them in old age (the meaning of 17:23–24). A month arranged around their needs, with the doctor consulted, the timetable readable and the phone calling the adhan, is a straightforward way to live those verses.