Hadith 3477

(1) The statement: “He sought the verdict of the Prophet (ﷺ) regarding a vow upon his mother, etc.”: Qadi Iyad said: They differed about the vow of Sa’d’s mother. Some said it was an absolute vow, others said it was fasting, others said emancipation, and others said charity. Each claimant cited hadiths related to the story of Sa’d’s mother. The most apparent is that it was a vow concerning wealth or an unspecified vow. This is supported by what Darqutni narrated from the hadith of Malik, where he said to him, meaning the Prophet (ﷺ): “Distribute water on her behalf.” Our Hanafi scholars specified it to financial acts of worship, not purely physical ones. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “No one fasts on behalf of another, nor prays on behalf of another.” The detail is that a vow is either a physical act of worship or a financial one. If it is a physical act, the heirs may not fulfill it on her behalf due to the prohibition. Nasa’i narrated in his “Sunan al-Kubra” from Ibn Abbas: “No one fasts on behalf of another, nor prays on behalf of another,” and something similar from Ibn Umar. If it is financial and the deceased did not make a bequest, the heirs are not obligated to fulfill it. If the deceased made a bequest to fulfill her vow, the heirs must fulfill it from one-third of his wealth, feeding for each day one sa’ of non-wheat grain or half a sa’ of wheat. This is the view of Abu Hanifah. Shafi’i in his later opinion said: The guardian feeds on behalf of the deceased each day one mudd of wheat for a poor person, and no one fasts on behalf of another. In his earlier opinion: If someone misses something from Ramadan, is able to make it up, then dies without doing so, or similarly for a vow or expiation, it is made up by his guardian, either by fasting on his behalf or feeding from his estate. Nawawi said: The earlier opinion here is more apparent. [Taken from “Al-Mirqat,” “At-Ta’liq al-Mumajjad,” “Badhl al-Majhud,” “Umdat al-Qari,” and “Al-Muswi”]