Q. My mother, who is over 80 years of age, suffers from ill health and frailty. Doctors have advised her long time ago that she must not fast in Ramadan, and we arranged that someone fasts on her behalf for a fee we pay him. But some people have told us that she must fast. Please clarify her situation. Moreover, she insists on praying too many voluntary prayers, which we feel to be wrong, considering her health condition.
I have taken her to do the Umrah, but I performed the pilgrimage on her behalf. Again some people have advised me that it was wrong and that she must do the pilgrimage herself, citing views from various schools of Fiqh.
My father, who died 17 years ago, was very religious. We believe that he did not miss any of his obligatory fasting or the sacrifice at the Eid. Still my brothers and sisters arrange for someone to fast on his behalf every year and to do the sacrifice, knowing that none of this is required, but just to compensate if he had a shortfall. Again we are advised against this. Please comment.
Abu Usamah
Tabuk
A. May God bless you and your brothers and sisters for being so dutiful to your parents. However, you seem to have some misconceptions about what may or may not be done of behalf of someone else in matters of worship.
With what you have said about your mother’s state of health and doctors’ advice, it is clear that she should not fast in Ramadan. However, what she should do instead is to feed a poor person two meals for each day of Ramadan she does not fast. This is the compensation God has stated for people who are permanently unable to fast.
This means that those who have told you that your mother must fast are wrong, considering her ill health and age. On the other hand, getting someone else to fast on her behalf for a fee is wrong, because it has no basis in Islam. Indeed, it is unanimously agreed by scholars that a person who is unable to fast cannot have someone else fasting on his or her behalf during his or her lifetime. It is only when a person dies with some of his obligatory fast still due, as in the case of someone who lived through the month of Ramadan but was ill and unable to fast, and then died before he could fast in compensation. Some scholars say that in this case, a close relative may fast on his behalf. But most scholars say that his relative should feed a poor person two meals for every day of fasting the deceased did not fast. This applies to your father. You have been hiring someone else to fast on his behalf without even knowing that he owes any days of fasting. This is wrong and you are better advised to stop it.
Nor is the case of offering the Eid sacrifice on your father’s behalf necessary or recommended. The Eid sacrifice is in any case a recommended offering, or Sunnah. As such, it need not be done every year; much less so on behalf of a deceased person.
What you could do on behalf of your deceased father is to pray God to grant him mercy and forgive him his sins. You may also give sadaqah, or charity, and offer the Umrah or the pilgrimage on his behalf. You may also recite the Qur’an and pray God to credit the reward of your recitation to your father. All this is permissible and increases your late father’s reward. But the fasting or the sacrifice are not the proper thing to do.
From what I have said, you realize that it is perfectly right that you have offered the pilgrimage on your mother’s behalf, considering that her state of health does not enable her to undertake this duty herself. As for her insistence of offering voluntary prayers, this is perfectly appropriate, but she may avail herself of the concessions God has granted in this respect. Thus, since she has back pain, she may offer her prayers in the most comfortable position. If she finds difficulty in standing, she may pray seated, or reclining, or in bed, as her condition allows. She may also do the bowing and prostration, i.e. rukoo’ and sujood in any way she can manage, as close as possible to the normal movement. If she cannot do that, then she may just move her head, or even signal with her eyes to indicate the movement.
Religious superiority
Q. I agree with your answer that interfaith marriage should not be allowed. However, may I ask: why do you consider your faith superior to others. God is supreme, no doubt. But you also have sub-sects and different cultures in your faith, and these may be in conflict. Is it not true to say that only God knows which faith is superior?
Krishna Kumar Sharma, Delhi, India
A. It is certainly true to say that God knows which faith is superior. However, we answer readers’ questions on the basis of the Islamic faith. This is the whole point of this column.
I have not said that interfaith marriages should not be allowed. Far be it from me to say something different to what Islamic teachings make clear. It is clear in Islam that God has allowed certain interfaith marriages for Muslims. Thus, a Muslim man may marry a Jewish or a Christian woman. However, I said that such marriages are not recommended because they are liable to have problems. This is a view shared by many Muslims.
When I said Islam is higher than other faiths, I was referring to the status of children born in an interfaith marriage. The children are deemed to follow the higher of their parents’ faiths. The fact that there are different cultures in Muslim communities does not lead to conflict. On the contrary, it testifies to the great quality of the Islamic faith, which allows the development of different cultures within the same framework of beliefs. On the other hand, if we consider monotheism, i.e. the belief in one God, as the best and most advanced religious belief, then Islam comes at the top of all religions, because it is the most monotheistic religion ever known to mankind. It admits no form of polytheism in any shape or form.
Adding father’s name
Q. May I ask how important to add a child’s father’s name in common usage? Also, in our home country people often have names like Azizur-Rahman, or Habibur-Rahman. When they get married the wife is often called Mrs Rahman. Is this acceptable?
R. Said
A. Adding a father’s name is a legal requirement in some countries. Islam does not say anything about this, leaving the matter to local tradition. If the government requires people to mention their fathers’ names, they must do so.
It is not appropriate for anyone to be called Rahman. This is a name God has chosen for Himself and may not be given to anyone. Hence people precede it with other names, like the ones you have mentioned. To give the shorter version is wrong and unacceptable from the Islamic point of view.
