Issue No. 1209- If it cannot be identified which son is the eldest, i.e., the birth dates of the sons are not clear, it is not obligatory on any one of the sons to offer their parents' qaḍā prayers and fasts. However, the recommended precaution is that they divide their qaḍā prayer and fasts between themselves.
Issue No. 1210- The eldest son should act according to his duties while carrying out the qaḍā of the prayer and fasts of his parents. That is, he should observe the rules of prayer and fast according to the rules of the Mujtahid he follows.
Issue No. 1212- If the eldest son was not mature [1] or was insane at the time of his father or mother’s death, he should offer the qaḍā of the fasts and prayers of his father and mother when he becomes mature or gains sanity.
Issue No. 1213- To hire a person to offer qaḍā prayer and perform other acts of worship on behalf of a dead person is not free of objection, except for ḥajj. If a person wants to hire someone for other acts, he should give the money as a gift and the hired person should perform the act for free (not in return of the money). However, there is no problem in offering the qaḍā of missed prayer and fast and also offering recommended prayer and observing recommended fast with the intention of qurbah (seeking proximity to Allah, the Almighty) and without wages.
Issue No. 1214- One can be hired to offer some mustaḥab acts like Zīyārat of shrines of the holy Prophet and Imams (ṣ), on behalf of living persons, yet, the obligatory precaution is that the wages should be taken for preparatory procedures. He can also offer mustaḥab acts of worship and dedicate the reward of those acts to living or dead persons.
Issue No. 1218- The obligation of a dead person will be discharged if one who hires a person is certain that the hired person has offered the prayer, and if he doubts about it, it would not be sufficient. However, if he is sure that he has offered the prayer, but does not know whether or not he has performed it correctly, there would be no problem in it.
Issue No. 1219- One cannot rely on the word of the hired person if he says that he has offered the prayer unless he is a trustworthy person.
Issue No. 1215- A person who is hired to offer qadha prayers of a dead person, should know the rules of the prayers well and should be able to pronounce the words correctly.
Issue No. 1220- The hired person should be [as an obligatory precaution] one who is not excused in performing the parts and the conditions of prayer. For example, a person who offers prayer in a sitting posture cannot be appointed. The obligatory precaution is that even one who offers prayer with tayammum or jabīrah should not be hired.
Issue No. 1221- A man can be hired on behalf of a woman, and a woman can be hired on behalf of a man, and in the matter of offering prayer loudly or whisperingly, the hired person should act according to his/her own obligation, not the dead person’s. Moreover, observing order is not necessary for the qaḍā prayer of a dead person irrespective of whether the hired person knows the order of the missed prayer or not, except for ẓuhr and ‘aṣr prayer or maghrib and ‘ishā’ prayer of the same day.
Issue No. 1222- If it is agreed with the hired person that he will perform the qaḍā of prayer and fast in a particular manner, (for example, it is agreed that he should offer the prayer in the mosque or at a special time), the hired person should follow the agreement. However, if nothing has been agreed, then he can perform according to his own obligation and as usual. As for performing the mustaḥab acts, he should perform the mustaḥab acts that are usually performed and it is not necessary to offer more than that, unless it has been stipulated. It is also not necessary to offer āyāt Prayer either, unless it has been agreed and stipulated before.
Issue No. 1223- If a person hires several people for offering the qaḍā prayer of a dead person, it is not necessary that he should fix a time for each one of them. Rather, they can offer the prayer at any time they wish to. However, in order for the qaḍā prayer to be offered in proper order, the recommended precaution is to fix a time for each one of them. For example, he will agree with one of them to offer the qaḍā prayer between morning and noon while another person offers the prayer from noon to night. In addition, it would be better that the number of prayers offered by them be similar. For example, if one of them starts offering prayer from ẓuhr prayer and ends with fajr prayer, (irrespective of whether he offers the prayer of one day and night or more), the other person should also start from ẓuhr prayer and end with the fajr.
