Fidyah For a Deceased Person

Salaah is a personal Fardh obligation which must be performed at its prescribed time, to miss a single Salaah is a grave sin. If any Salaah is missed a person then he/she must make up for it as Qadha. If the person passes away without having made up for it, the Salaah will remain as an unfulfilled
obligation and he/she will be liable for punishment, a grave punishment indeed.

If the deceased made a bequest for the Fidya of his missed Salaah to be discharged, it would be an obligation upon the heirs to give the Fidya from one third of the estate after the burial expenses have been covered and the debts paid. The remainder will be distributed amongst the heirs stipulated by the Shari’ah.

If the deceased did not make such a bequest, then the only way to make up for the Salaah on behalf of the deceased would be for the Fidya to be paid from the estate. However, this must be done with the consent of all the heirs (in consultation with the appointed executor of the estate), provided that all the heirs are Baaligh. By doing so, it is hoped that this would expiate the sin. (Note: the shares of non-Baaligh/minor heirs cannot be utilized for this purpose).

If the deceased made a bequest to this effect, but the amount exceeds the value of one third of the deceased’s estate or the deceased did not make a bequest for the Fidya to be paid from his estate, then in principle it will not be obligatory upon the heirs to pay the excess in the former case or to pay at all in the latter case. They may, however, pay it as a favour and goodwill gesture on behalf of the deceased. The approval of all the legal Baaligh/major inheritors will be necessary if it is paid from more than one third of the estate or if it was not bequeathed. As mentioned above, the Fidya may not be paid from the shares of inheritors who are still minor. Alternatively, one or more of the inheritors may pay from their own funds if they so wish. It is hoped that by doing this, the Fidya will InshaAllah serve as expiation for his missed Salaah(s) and the deceased will not be taken to task.

The Fidyah for each Salaah is equal to one Sadaqah al-Fitr, the quantity of Sadaqah al-Fitr is half a Saa’ of wheat or its value.iv As this value fluctuates from time to time, you should consult a reliable Ulema body/organization in your country to find out what the current value of Sadaqatul-Fitr is, on the day that the Fidya is going to be paid. This Fidyah will be paid to the poor.

Please note that the Witr Salaah is also a separate Salaah and a separate Fidya will have to be paid for every Witr Salaah. All in all, the Fidya of six Salaah per day will be paid.

If the total Fidya amount is very high, exceeding the value of one third of the deceased’s estate, the Fidya may be paid from the remainder of the estate if the approval of all the legal major heirs is found. If this too is not enough, then one may give a certain amount to a poor person and request him to willingly (without any coercion) gift it back to the heirs, and continue doing so until the entire amount of Fidya is covered. This method will only be applied if there are not enough funds (as if one is pleading to Allah Ta’aala to accept and saying if there was enough, I would surely have paid in full).

Please note that it cannot be made mandatory upon the poor recipient to give it back; rather it would be a polite request, which he can fulfil at his discretion, without any coercion.