1541. After one’s death, a person may be hired to offer the prayers or other acts of worship that the deceased did not offer during his lifetime. That is to say, one may establish a wage for the hired person for him to offer the missed acts of worship. If a person offers them without taking a wage, it will be valid.
1542. A person may also be hired to offer certain recommended acts of worship on behalf of a living person, such as the ziyÁrat of the Prophet’s grave, or that of the Imams (Peace be upon them all). In such an event, his being hired would pertain to him offering that act on behalf of that person. He may also offer these acts free of charge, just as he may also offer any obligatory or recommeded prayer and dedicate its reward to persons who are alive or have passed away.
1543. A person who has been hired to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a deceased should either be a mujtahid with regards to the precepts of prayer, or he should perform it by means of doing the correct taqlÐd of a mujtahid, or act in accordance with precaution.
1544. A hired person should specify the deceased when making his intention to offer his qaÃÁ prayers. However, it is not necessary for him to know his name. If for example, he makes the intention to offer prayer on behalf of the person whom he has been hired to offer prayer for, it will suffice.
1545. The hired person should offer the act of worship with the intention of what the deseased had been charged with as his obligation. It will not suffice if he offers it and dedicates its reward to the deceased.
1546. One should hire a person whom he knows will perform the act of worship, or has canonically authoritative evidence that he will do so. Such evidence may include one’s confidence (in him), or the testimony of two just persons, or that of one trustwrothy person for whom no conjectural evidence exists contrary to his testimony.
1547. If it transpires that the person hired to offer the qaÃÁ prayers for a deceased did not perform them, or he performed them incorrectly, another person should be hired to perform them.
1548. If a person doubts whether the hired person has performed the act he was hired to perform or not, then if the hired person is a reliable person and testifies that he has performed it, or two just persons testify, or one trustworthy person testifies and there is no conjectural evidence contrary to his testimony, it will suffice. If he doubts whether he performed the act correctly or not, he should assume he has done so correctly.
1549. A person who is exempt owing to a justified excuse—for example he offers his prayer sitting or with tayammum—cannot be hired to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a deceased, even if the qaÃÁ prayers of the deceased were rendered qaÃÁ in the same manner.
1550. A man may be hired to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a woman and vice versa. The hired person should act according to his or her own obligation in reciting the prayer aloud or in a low voice.
1551. It is not necessary to observe the sequential order while offering the qaÃÁ prayer of a deceased, though recommended precaution dictates that one should observe it, except in prayers whose adÁ form has a sequential order. An example of this is the Ûuhr and ‘aÒr prayers, or the maghrib and ‘ishÁÞ prayers of a same day.
1552. If a person stipulates a condition with the hired person in respect to performing the act in a particular manner, the latter should execute it in the manner agreed upon, unless he is certain of its invalidity, in which case it is impermissible for him to be hired for it. However, if there is no condition stipulated, he should act according to his own obligation. Recommended precaution dictates that between his own duty and that of the deceased, he should act according to that which is more precautionary. For example, if obligation of the deceased is to recite tasbÐÎÁt al-arba‘ah three times, and his obligation is to recite it once, he should recite it three times.
1553. If a person does not stipulate a condition with respect to the number of recommended components the hired person should perform in the prayer, he should perform the recommended components that are commonly performed.
1554. If a person hires a number of people to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a deceased, based on what was elaborated on in article 1551, it is not necessary to specify a particular time for each one of them.
1555. If a person is hired, for example, to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a deceased within a period of one year, and he dies before the year comes to an end, another person should be hired for the qaÃÁ prayers that one is certain were not offerred by him. Obligatory precaution dictates that other person should also be hired for the number of prayers that one entertains a possibility that they were not offerred by him.
1556. If one hires a person to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a deceased, and prior to completing the qaÃÁ prayers, he passes away, while having taken the complete wages for all the prayers, then:
If they had stipulated a condition that the hired person perform all the prayers himself, and he was capable of doing so, the contract to hire him will be valid. In this case, the one who hired him can reclaim the common wage for similar works for the remaining prayers. He may also choose to cancel the contract, subtract the common wage for similar works for the prayers that were offerred, and reclaim the remaining amount.
However, if he was not capable of doinig so, the contract would be invalid in relation to the time of the deseased’s death onwards. In this case, the hirer may reclaim the remaining specified (paid) wage, or cancel the contract in relation to the time before the deseased’s death (backwards) and pay the common wage of such works for the offered prayers.
But, if they had not stipulated a condition that the hired person should perform all the prayers himself, the heirs of that hired person must hire somebody, by his estate, to offer the remaining prayers. However, if he had left no property, nothing is obligatory on his heirs.
1557. If a person who is hired to offer the qaÃÁ prayers of a deceased dies prior to compliting performance of those prayers and while he himself had his own qaÃÁ prayers to offer, after carrying out the instructions elaborated in the previous article, if there is a surplus remaining from his property, and he has made a will, and the wage for his qaÃÁ prayers is greater than one third of his estate, and his heirs grant permission for it, one should hire a person to complete all of his qaÃÁ prayers. However, if they do not grant permission, one third of his property should be used to complete his qaÃÁ prayers.
The Precepts of Fasting
Fasting is defined as the act of abstaining from a few things—which will be elaborated later—from the adhÁn of fajr till maghrib with the intention of attaining nearness to Allah—as elaborated in the section on wuÃÙ—and with sincerity.
The time of maghrib—in this article and the following articles—based on obligatory precaution, is defined as the time when the redness of the eastern sky, which appears after the setting of the sun, has passed overhead.
1558. It is not necessary for a person to pass the intention for fasting through his mind, or to say—for example—that he would be fasting the following day. In fact, it is sufficient for him to decide that with the intention of attaining nearness to Allah and with sincerity, he will abstain from things that will invalidate the fast from the adhÁn of fajr until maghrib. In order to be certain that he has been fasting throughout this time, he should start abstaining a little before the adhÁn of fajr, and continue to refrain for some time after maghrib, from the things which invalidate the fast.
1559. A person can, on every night of the month of Ramadan, make the intention to fast on the following day. He can also make the intention on the first night of the holy month that he would be fasting throughout the month, and it is not necessary for him to renew his intention every night, for the continuity of this intention is sufficient.
1560. The time for making the intention of a fast of the month of Ramadan on the first night is from the early part of the night until the adhÁn of fajr, and apart from the first night, the intention can also be made before the early part of the night. An example of this is a person who makes the intention during the preceding afternoon to fast the next day, with the intention of attaining proximity to Allah, and maintains this intention, even though he falls asleep until after the adhÁn of fajr on the next day.
1561. The time for making the intention for a recommended fast is from the early part of the night until the moment when there is just enough time to make an intention, before the disk of the sun disappears below the horizon. If until this time a person has not performed any action which invalidates the fast, and he makes the intention for the recommended fast, his fast is valid. If this time passes, the validity of his fast will be questionable.
1562. If a person goes to sleep before the adhÁn of fajr without making the intention to fast, and wakes up before zuhr (noon) and makes his intention to fast an obligatory date-specific fast, be it the fast of the month of Ramadan or any other fast, such as a vow to fast on a particular day, the validity of his fast will be questionable. However, if it is an obligatory fast that is not date-specific, his fast is valid. In the event that he wakes up after zuhr prayers, he cannot make the intention for an obligatory fast, even if it is not date-specific. However, in the case of the qaÃÁ of a fast of the month of Ramadan, the impermissibility (of making the intention) between zuhr and evening is based on obligatory precaution.
1563. If a person intends to fast other than the fast of the month of Ramadan, he must specify that fast. For example, he must make the intention that he is observing a qaÃÁ fast, or fasting to fulfill a vow, or fasting for a kaffÁrah. However, in the month of Ramadan it is not necessary for him to specify in his intention that he is going to observe the fast of the month of Ramadan. In fact, if a person is not aware that it is the month of Ramadan or has forgotten, and makes the intention for another fast, it will count as a fast of the month of Ramadan.
1564. If a person is aware that it is the month of Ramadan and intentionally makes the intention of observing a fast other than the fast of the month of Ramadan, his fast will not count as a fast of the month of Ramadan. In fact, on the basis of obligatory precaution, it will not even count as a fast for which he made the intention.
1565. If a person observes a fast with the intention of the first day of the month and later understands that it was the second or third of the month, his fast is still valid.
1566. If a person makes an intention before the adhÁn of fajr to observe a fast on that day and then becomes unconscious, and regains consciousness during the day, obligatory precaution dictates that he complete his fast on that day, and also observe its qaÃÁ.
1567. If a person makes his intention before the adhÁn of fajr, then gets intoxicated, and regains his senses during the day, obligatory precaution dictates that he must complete the fast of that day and should also offer its qaÃÁ.
1568. If a person makes his intention before the adhÁn of fajr, then goes to sleep and wakes up after maghrib, his fast is in order.
1569. If a person does not know or forgets that it is the month of Ramadan, and becomes aware of it prior to zuhr, then if he has performed an act that invalidates the fast, or if he becomes aware after zuhr that it is the month of Ramadan, his fast is void. But, he should not perform any act which invalidates the fast until maghrib, and should also observe its qaÃÁ after the month of Ramadan. The same will apply, based on obligatory precaution, if he becomes aware of it prior to zuhr and has not performed an act that would invalidate the fast.
