What is the legal ruling for engaging in intercourse during the fasting hours of Ramadan?

 

If a Muslim engages in sexual intercourse with his wife during the fasting hours in Ramadan, his fast is invalidated and he is obliged to make it up in addition to making an expiation.

Textual Evidence

A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, "I am ruined!"

"Why?" asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
He replied, "I had intercourse with my wife while I was fasting (in the month of Ramadan)."

The Prophet asked, "Do you have enough money to free a slave?"
"No," replied the man.

The Prophet asked, "Can you fast two months consecutively?"
"No," replied the man.

The Prophet asked, "Can you afford to feed sixty poor persons?"
[Again] the man said, "No."

The man then sat down whereupon a basket full of dates was brought to the Prophet. He said, "Take this and give it out as expiation."

The man said, "There is none in Medina more in need of this than me."

The Prophet smiled and said, "Go and give it to your family."

Upon whom is expiation obligatory?
Many scholars maintain that expiation in this case is obligatory only upon the husband, because he engaged in sexual intercourse while fasting, and because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not command the man's wife to do same in the hadith.

Based on this, the expiation is paid in the same sequence mentioned in the above hadith. It consists of:
• Freeing a slave.
• If that is not possible, then fasting the days of two months consecutively.
• And if that is not possible, then feeding sixty poor persons on a scale of the average of what he provides for his family.

And God the Almighty knows best.