It is written in Nûr-ul îdhâh
and in its marginal notes by Tahtâwî, at
the end of the namâz of qadâ in Halabî
and Durr-ul mukhtâr, in Multaqa, in Durr-ul
muntaqâ, in Wikâya, in Durer, in Jawhara,
at the end of the explanation of Kadýzâde’s Birgivî
vasiyyetnâmesi, and in other valuable books that it is necessary to
perform isqât and dawr for a deceased person who has enjoined it (in his will).
For example, it is written in the marginal notes by Tahtâwî,
“There are nass (âyats and hadîths with clear meanings) about isqât
(absolution) of the (sin for the) omitted fastings by giving fidya. All savants
unanimously declare that, because the namâz is more important than fasting, as
with fasting, isqât is to be performed for the prayers of namâz which a person
missed for some reason justified by the Sharî’a and which he could not make
qadâ of[1] later
because he took to his deathbed though he wished to perform them. A person who
says that isqât cannot be performed for namâz must be ignorant. For he objects
to the agreement of savants. A hadîth-i sherîf
declares, ‘A person cannot fast or perform namâz on
behalf of another person. But he can feed the poor for his (the
other person’s) fasting or namâz.’ ” As we have heard recently, some people, who
cannot realize the superiorities of the savants of Ahl-as sunna and who suppose
that our imâms of Madhhabs express their personal illusions, as they themselves
do, say, “There is no isqât or dawr in Islam. Isqât resembles Christians’
redemption.” Such words of theirs expose them to risk. For our Prophet (sallallâhu ’alaihi wasallam) declared, “My Umma do not come together in deviation.” And “Something
which Believers consider beautiful is beautiful according to Allâhu ta’âlâ,
too.” These hadîth-i sherîfs are
written on the 94th page of the book Berîqa,
and they prove that to make dawr is certainly true in Islam. He who does not
believe in dawr will have denied the hadîth-i sherîfs
quoted above. It is written at the end of the namâz of Witr in Ibn Abidîn, “A person who unbelieves the
knowledge of ijmâ; i.e. the essential religious knowledge which is known even
by the ignorant, becomes a kâfir (unbeliever).” Ýjmâ’ means the unanimity of
savants. How can isqât ever be likened to redemption? Under the pretext of
redemption, priests are rooking people. But in Islam men of
---------------------------------
[1] To make qadâ of any religious precept means to perform it later, if one has not been able to perform it within its prescribed time.
religion
cannot perform isqât. Isqât can be performed only by the deceased person’s
walî, and the money is given not to men of religion but to the poor.
Today
there is next to no place where the business of isqât and dawr are being
performed suitably with the Sharî’a. If the cavillers of isqât said that “the
isqâts and dawrs being performed today are incompatible with the Sharî’a”
instead of being opposed to isqât and dawr, they would be doing well, and we
would be supporting them; by saying so, they would both be safe against a great
danger and be serving Islam. Ibn Abidîn explains how to perform isqât and dawr
as prescribed by the Sharî’a at the end of the subject about the namâz of qadâ.
If a person has fâita salât, [that is, prayers of salât which he left
to qadâ because he could not perform them for some ’udhr], and if he has still
not performed them even with signs though he could have, it is wâjib for him to
enjoin in his will that the isqât should be done for their kaffârat when he is
about to die. But he does not have to enjoin the isqât if he has not had the
power to perform them. Likewise, if a musâfir or a sick person who did not fast
in Ramadân-i sherîf dies before having time to make qadâ, he does not have to
enjoin the isqât. Allâhu ta’âlâ will accept the ’udhrs of such people. [The
isqât for a sick person’s kaffârat is performed by his walî after his death. It
is not performed before he dies. It is not permissible for a living person to
have the isqât performed for himself. It is stated in the Shâfi’î book Anwâr, “It is not wâjib according to the Shâfi’î
Madhhab to give fidya for the prayers of namâz omitted by a dead Muslim. The
fidya given, if any, will not stand for isqât.” Imâm-i-birgivî ‘rahmatullâhi
ta’âlâ ’aleyh’, a Hanafî scholar, states in his book Jilâ-ul qulûb that if a person owes debts to Allâhu ta’âlâ or
to people it is wâjib for him to say his will in the presence of two witnesses
or to read to them what he has written. And (to say or write) a will is
mustahab for a person without debts].
For
the isqât of kaffârat, the deceased person’s walî, that is, the person to whom
he has instructed to distribute his property to the appropriate places, or his
heir, gives alms as much as the fitra amount, that is, half a sâ’ [five hundred
and twenty dirhams or seventeen hundred and fifty grams] of wheat for each
prayer of salât and the same amount for each salât of witr and the same amount
for a day’s fasting for which qadâ is necessary, as fidya to the poor [or to
their deputy], from the third part of this property.
If
the deceased person did not enjoin in his will that the isqât
of kaffârat be done, his walî does not
have to perform the isqât of kaffârat in Hanafî Madhhab. It is stated in Naf’ul-anâm fî isqât-is-salâti wa-s-siyâm, a book
(written by scholars) in Shâfi’î Madhhab: “Bâjûrî[1] states in his explanation of Ibni Qâsim’s
explanation of Abû Shûjâ: Fidya is not given for the prayers of namâz missed by
the deceased person. There is yet another report saying that it is given. It
will be good to do isqât for them by imitating Hanafî Madhhab. According to an
earlier report in Shafi’î Madhhab, the deceased person’s walî (guardian) makes
qadâ of the prayers of namâz and fasts missed by the deceased person.” In all
the (four) Madhhabs, the guardian has to pay the deceased person’s debts to
creatures (people) from the property he has left behind even if the deceased
did not enjoin it in his last request. In fact, the creditors may appropriate
their dues without a law court decision if they can obtain the property. If he
enjoined the fidya for the fasts he had left to qadâ, i.e. that they must be
paid by giving property, it is wâjib to fulfil it. For it is a commandment of the
Sharî’at. If the deceased person did not enjoin it, his inheritor can perform
it with his own property. If he enjoined (the payment for) namâz (which he had
missed), it is permissible, but not wâjib, to give fidya for it. Even if these
last two performances are not accepted (by Allâhu ta’âlâ), they will at least
produce thawâb of alms, which in turn will help forgiveness for the deceased
person’s sins. Hadrat Imâm-i-Muhammad also said so. It is written in Majma’ul-anhur, “If a person, being deceived by his
nafs and the shaytân, did not perform his prayers of salât and then, towards
the end of his life, became penitent [and began to perform his daily prayers of
salât and make qadâ of the past ones], it is written in Mustasfâ that it is permissible for this person
to enjoin the isqât for his prayers of salât which he has not been able to make
qadâ of.”
It is written in Jilâ ul-qulûb:
“Other’s rights include debts to be paid, dues resulting from practices such as
consignment, extortion, theft, employment and purchase, physical rights
proceeding from acts of encroachment such as battery, injury and unjust
employment, and spiritual rights ensuing from acts of wrongdoing such as
blackguardism, mockery, backbiting and slander.
If
one-third of the property of the deceased person who has
---------------------------------
[1] Bâjûrî Ibrâhîm was a professor in Jâmi’ul az-har. He passed away in 1276 [A.D. 1859].
made a will suffices for the isqât, the
guardian has to give the fidya out of that property. It is written in Fath-ul Qadîr that, if it does not suffice, the
heir can donate the deficit of the one-third. Likewise, if the deceased person
enjoined in his will the performance of the hajj which was fard for him, it is
not acceptable for his heir or someone else to present the money for hajj. If
he does not enjoin it before dying and if his heir performs the isqât or the
hajj with his own money, his debt of hajj will have been paid. Some (savants)
say that these things are not permissible with the money of someone other than
the heir. But the authors (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în) of the book Durr-ul mukhtâr, Marâqil-falâh and Jilâ-ul qulûb said
that they are permissible.
Only
in the Hanafî Madhhab; in lieu of wheat, flour, one sâ’ of barley, dates or
grapes can be calculated and given for the isqât of kaffârat. [Because these
things are more valuable than wheat, they are more useful to the poor]. Instead
of any of these, gold or silver of the same value can be given. It is
permissible for (people belonging to one of) the other three Madhhabs to
imitate the Hanafî Madhhab. [The isqât cannot be performed with paper money].
It is not necessary to give fidya for sajda-i tilâwat.
If the money to be given for fidya exceeds one-third of the property,
the walî cannot spend more than the one-third without the inheritors’ consent.
It is written in the book Qunya that if
the deceased had debts, it is not permissible to carry out his will even if his
creditors give approval for the fulfilment of the will. For, the Sharî’a
commands that the debts must be paid first. Paying the debt cannot be postponed
with the creditor’s consent. In case it is not known at what age the person who
enjoined the isqât of all his prayers of namâz died, his will is acceptable
when one-third of the property he has left does not suffice for the isqât of
his prayers of namâz. If one-third of the property equals and even exceeds (the
amount to be spent for) the isqât, his will is not acceptable; it becomes
invalid. For, when the one-third does not suffice for the isqât, the number of
the prayers of namâz for which the isqât is to be performed with the one-third
will be known, and so his will will be sahîh (valid) for those prayers of
namâz; and (the part of) his will concerning his remaining prayers of namâz
will become laghw, that is, empty words. When the one-third is in excess, his
lifetime, and hence the number of his prayers of namâz, will not be known, and
so his will will become invalid. Kâdýzâde says in his explanation of the Birgivî:
To avoid the risk of a wrong or invalid practice, if the deceased
person did not have any property, or if one-third of the property he left
behind does not suffice for the isqât, or if he did not make a will and the
guardian wants to perform the isqât with his own property, he will perform dawr[1] . But
the guardian does not have to perform dawr. To perform dawr, the guardian
borrows as much gold or silver -gold coins, gold five lira pieces, bracelets,
rings, valid silver coins- as will suffice for a month’s or a year’s isqât. The
years of debt are calculated by subtracting twelve years -if the deceased
person is a man -or nine years- if the deceased person is a woman- from a
lifetime. Ten and a half kilograms of wheat is to
be given for one day’s six prayers of namâz and three thousand and eight
hundred kilograms for a solar year. For example, when one kilogram
of wheat cost 1.80 liras, for the isqât of a year’s namâz six thousand, eight
hundred and ninety-eight or, let us say, six thousand and nine hundred, liras
would be required. Since one gold coin [which weighs seven grams and twenty
centigrams], cost a hundred and twenty liras when one kilogram of wheat cost
1.80 liras, which means that one kilogram of wheat equals one-tenth [1/9.26]
gram of gold in value, the isqât of a month’s (debt of) namâz requires four
plus three quarters [4.75] gold coins, and consequently the isqât of a year’s namâz requires fifty-seven and a half,
or, circumspectly, sixty, gold coins. The deceased person’s guardian
borrows five gold coins, or bracelets with the same weight, and finds one or
more, e.g. four, poor people who are not fond of worldly things and who know
and love their religion. [These people must be poor enough to be exempted from
the liability of giving the fitra and to be among those who can be given zakât.
If they are not (so) poor, the isqât will not be acceptable]. The deceased person’s
guardian, that is, the person to whom he has made his will, or one of his
inheritors or the person deputizing one of his inheritors gives the five gold
coins to the first poor person, with the intention of alms, saying, “I give you
these five golds as compensation for the isqât-i salât of the deceased
.................... Bey.” When giving the alms to the poor person it is
permissible to say, “I give you these as a present.” Then the poor person,
(taking possession of the gold coins), says, “I accept and take them, and I
present them to you,” and gives them to the inheritor or to the inheritor’s
deputy, who takes
---------------------------------
[1] Its lexical meaning is ‘circulation’.
possession
of them. Thus, one dawr (circulation; rotation) will be completed by giving
(the golds) to one poor person four times or to each of the four poor people
once and taking them back. With one dawr (the deceased person) will have been
absolved of twenty gold coins of kaffârat of salât. If the deceased person was
a man and was sixty years old, 48x60=2880 gold coins will be necessary for
forty-eight years’ salât. So, the dawr is to be done 2880:20=144 times. If the
number of gold coins is ten, 72 dawrs will be done, and if the number of gold
coins is twenty, thirty-six dawrs will be completed.
If
the number of poor people is ten and the number of gold coins is ten, too,
twenty-nine dawrs will be completed for the isqât of kaffârat for forty-eight
years’ debt of salât.
The number of the years during which he (the deceased person) did not perform namâz x the number of gold coins for one
year=the number of the poor x the number of gold coins circulating x the number
of dawrs. This applied to the example we have given:
48x60=4x5x144=4x10x72=4x20x36=10x10x29
As it is seen, for determining the number of the dawrs (to be done) for
the isqât of salât, the number of the gold coins
(required) for one year will be multiplied by the
number of the years of debt of salât. Then the number of the gold coins
circulating will be multiplied by the number of the poor individuals. The
result of the first multiplication will be divided by the second.
The result of the division will indicate the number of dawrs. Wheat’s and
gold’s equivalent in paper money vary at approximately the same rate in course
of time. In other words, the value of gold and the value of wheat always go up
and down correspondingly. For this reason, as the amount of wheat for a year’s
isqât does not change, so the number of gold coins for one year’s isqât, i.e.
sixty gold coins, as we have calculated above, remains almost the same. Therefore,
in the calculation of isqât the circumspectly accepted formula is, except for
some extraordinary situations:
Five gold coins for
the isqât of a month’s salât.
One gold coin for the isqât of a month’s fasting in Ramadân.
The
number of gold coins to be circulated and the number of circulations will be
calculated accordingly.
If no
gold coins are available, the guardian borrows some gold articles such as
bracelets or rings from a woman he knows.
Weighing these, he puts an amount equal to
the (number of years during which the deceased person omitted his prayers of
namâz x
After the isqât for the namâz is finished, for the isqât of the
forty-eight years’ fasts omitted, that is, for the ones that must be made qadâ
of, he (the inheritor or his deputy) makes three dawrs with five gold coins and
four poor people. For, the isqât for the kaffârat of a year’s (thirty days’)
fasting requires fifty-two-and-a-half kilograms of wheat, or
whose inheritors are not known.
In the Madhhabs of Mâlikî and Shâfi’î, the report saying that fidya is
made for the (omitted) namâz is observed by giving the fidya for five prayers
of namâz for each day, since the namâz called Witr is a sunna. It is written in
(the books) Al-Anwâr and Naf’ul-anâm that according to these two Madhhabs
one mud’ of wheat is to be given as the fidya of one prayer of namâz and one
fasting. Since one mud’ is 173.3 dirhams, the fidya for a day’s five prayers of
namâz is
Doing
the kaffârat of one oath requires ten poor people in one day, and the kaffârat
of one day’s fast that was broken without any acceptable excuse and for which
the kaffârat is necessary requires sixty poor people in one day; and, one poor
person cannot be given more than half a sâ’ of wheat in one day. That is, the
kaffârats for several oaths cannot be given to ten poor people within the same
day. Then, the dawrs for the kaffârats of oaths and (broken) fasts cannot be
done in one day. Please see the sixth chapter of this book! If (the deceased
person) enjoined (the isqât) for his oaths, you give two kilograms of wheat or
flour, or its equivalent in other property such as gold and silver, to each of
ten poor people in one day. Or, you may give the same amount to one poor person
every day for ten successive days. Or, (calculating and) giving (the whole
expense in) paper money to a poor person, you must say to him, “I appoint you
my deputy. With this money you shall buy yourself food and eat it for ten days,
twice each day, once in the morning and once in the evening!” If he buys other
things, such as coffee and newspapers instead of feeding himself as advised, it
will not be acceptable. The best way to do it is to bargain with a restaurant
and give the ten days’ expense to the restaurant and have the poor person eat
there every morning and every evening for ten days. So is the case with the
kaffârat of a fast that was broken after the niyya and with the kaffârat of
zihâr; in either of these two cases, for one day’s kaffârat you give half a sâ’
of wheat or other property of the same value to each of sixty poor people in
one day or to one poor person for sixty days or
feed him twice a day (for sixty days).
It is
not necessary to perform the isqât of zakât not enjoined (by the deceased
person). The fatwâ permits the inheritor to perform the dawr for the isqât of
zakât by his own volition.
While making dawr, each time the poor people are given the gold, the
walî should intend for the isqât of salât or fast. The poor person also should
say, “I give (this) as a gift,” as he gives back the gold and the guardian
should reply, “I have received (it).” The book Ashiat-ul
lamaât, in its discourse on the kinds of people who are not
permitted to accept alms or zakât, states that Âisha (radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ)
related,” Rasûlullah (sallallâhu ’alaihi wasallam) came to my room. There was
boiling meat in the pot. I served him bread and some other food that I had in
the house. He said, ‘I see (some) meat cooking.’ ‘That was the meat given to our
maid Berîre as alms. I haven’t served this meat, for you don’t take alms
(zakât).’ ‘That meat is alms for Berîre. But the
meat that she gives us becomes a gift,’ he said.” The poor can give
the zakât they have received back to the rich. What they give becomes a gift.
It is allowed (halâl) for the rich to take this. For, the poor has given it out
of his or her own property. Rasûlullah (sallallâhu ’alaihi wasallam) accepted
all gifts given to him without discriminating between rich and poor. In return,
he used to give much more.” [If the guardian will not be able to perform the
isqât, he appoints a non-relative as his deputy to perform the isqât for the
deceased person; this deputy is preferred to others in doing the isqât and the
dawr].
[It is written in the final part of Vasiyyetnâme,
by Imâm Birgivî, and in its explanation by Kâdî-zâde Ahmed Bey ‘rahmatullâhi
ta’âlâ ’alaihimâ’: It is a condition that the poor people must not have the
nisâb amount (of property). It is permissible for them to be the dead person’s
relatives. When giving (the gold coins) to the poor person, the guardian must
say, “I give these to you for the isqât of so-and-so’s so and so many prayers
of salât.” And the poor person must say, “I have accepted them,” and must know
that the gold coins belong to himself when he takes possession of them. If he
does not know this he must be taught beforehand. And this poor person, showing
kindness, gives the gold coins to another poor person of his own accord,
saying, “I give these to you for the isqât of so-and-so’s salât.” The latter,
taking possession of them, must say, “I accept them.” When he takes possession
of them he must know that they are his property. The dawr will not be
acceptable if he takes them as a deposit for
safe-keeping or as a present. And this
second poor person, after saying, ‘I take and accept them,’ gives them to a
third poor person by saying, “I give these to you the same way.” Thus, dawrs
must be done for prayers of namâz, for fasts, for zakâts, for qurbâns, for
sadaqa fitrs, for votive offerings, for (violated) human and animal rights.
Fâsid and bâtil[1]
buying, and selling are among (violated) human rights. It is not permissible to
do dawr for the kaffârats of an oath or fasting.
After
the dawr is finished, the last poor person taking possession of the gold coins
shows kindness and presents them to the guardian of his own volition and of his
own will. The guardian takes them, saying, “I accept them.” If he (the poor
person) does not present them, they cannot be taken by force, for they are his
own property. The guardian gives the poor person some gold coins or some paper
money or some of the deceased person’s property and presents the thawâb for the
alms to the deceased person’s soul. A poor person who is in debt must not join
the business of dawr. For, it would be fard for him to pay his debts as soon as
he took possession of the gold coins. It would not be permissible for him to
give the gold coins to the next person for the deceased person’s kaffârat instead
of paying his debt. The dawr would be acceptable, but he himself, let alone
earning any thawâb, would become sinful. It is written in Ibn Âbidîn that a
child’s giving a present is not sahîh].
If a
deceased person without any property enjoined in his will the performance of
dawr, it is not wâjib for the guardian to do the dawr. It is wâjib for the
dying person to will as much of his property as sufficient for the isqât,
provided that it shall not be more than one-third of the inheritance. Thus, the
isqât will be performed without dawr being necessary. He will be sinful if he
enjoins that the dawr should be done with less than one-third of his property
while one-third of his property would suffice for the isqât. It is written in
the two hundred and seventy-third page of the fifth volume of Ibn Âbidîn, “If a
sick person has small children or poor big children who will need his
inheritance, who have reached the age of puberty and who are pious, it is
better for him to leave his property to his pious children instead of willing
it for (the performance of) supererogatory pious deeds and
---------------------------------
[1] Kinds of buying and selling prohibited by she Sharî’a. There is detailed information about buying and selling in the Turkish original of Se’âdet-i Ebediyye.
services.” The book Bezzâziyya writes in its discourse on presents,
“One should spend one’s property on pious deeds and services instead of leaving
it to one’s sinful children (if they are so). For, it would mean to support
sins. And one should not give one’s sinful child money or property more than
his subsistence.”
If a
person has numerous debts of salât, fasting, zakât, qurbân and oath, it is not
permissible for him to enjoin in his will that dawr should be done with less
than one-third of the inheritance he leaves behind and that the rest of the
property should be spent on pious deeds such as reading Qur’ân al-kerîm,
khatm-i tehlîl and mawlîd. A person who pays or takes money for such religious
services becomes sinful. It is permissible to pay or take money to learn or
teach (how to read) Qur’ân al-kerîm. Yet it is not permissible for reading it.
It is
not permissible for the inheritors or for any other person to make qadâ of the
deceased’s omitted prayers of namâz or fasts. Yet it is permissible and even
good to perform supererogatory salât and fasts and to present the thawâbs to
the deceased’s soul.
It is
permissible for the deputy appointed by the deceased to make qadâ of the
deceased’s debt of hajj with the deceased’s money; this will relieve the
deceased from his debt (of hajj). For, hajj is a worship which is done both
with body and with property. Supererogatory hajj can always be performed on
someone else’s behalf. But the hajj which is fard can be performed by a deputy
only on behalf of a person who will not be able to perform it in person till
his death.
It is written in Majma’ul anhur and
in Durr-ul muntaqâ, “The deceased’s
isqât must be performed before the burial. It is written in Quhistânî that it is permissible also after the
burial.”
In
the performance of the isqât of the kaffârats of namâz, fasting, zakât and
qurbân for the deceased, one poor person can be given more than the amount of
nisâb. In fact, all the gold coins can be given to one poor person.
It is
not permissible for a person on his deathbed to give the fidya for his omitted
prayers of namâz. If a person is so old that he cannot fast, it is permissible
for him to give the fidya for his fasts that he cannot perform. A sick person
has to perform his salât at least by moving his head. If a person is so sick
that he cannot perform his prayers of salât for more than a day even with such
movements (of his head), he will be absolved from the obligation of performing
these prayers of salât. He will not have
to make qadâ of these prayers if he
recovers later. But when he recovers he will have to perform his fasts which he
could not perform. If he dies before recovering, (his sin of not performing)
these fasts will be pardoned.