The Expiation of One Who Causes an Accident in Which Passengers Die
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, if a person causes an accident that results in the death of one of the passengers, and the death of the person who caused it as well, is it obligatory for him to pay an expiation such that a slave is freed from his estate, or does his guardian fast on his behalf?
The Shaykh:
No, he does not owe a single expiation; rather, he owes expiations. If people died with him and he was among them, he owes an expiation for himself and expiations for the people who died with him—several expiations. However, it is necessary to determine the cause of the accident. If it was due to negligence on the part of the questioner, then he is liable for the guarantee in terms of the debt and the expiation. But if it was without negligence, if the accident occurred without any negligence on the part of the driver, then he owes nothing. Negligence is, for example, driving while asleep, or not being skilled, or not being skilled in driving, or speeding at a speed that exceeds what is safe, or colliding with cars, leaving his lane to enter the lane of other cars, or messing around. This makes him liable for the guarantee because he is the one who caused it suddenly. But if the accident occurred by divine decree and destiny, and there was no negligence on his part—such as if something is thrown from the car while it is moving, or if it bursts, or if the car bursts while he is driving, even though there were no defects in the car, but it burst from the driving or without any negligence on his part—then he owes nothing, because he is not negligent. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: He drives in a controlled manner and is skilled in driving, and there is no type of defect. And he did not know that there was a defect in the car, so he did not find any defect in it.
The Shaykh:
Then this is not justified, and he owes nothing.
Honorable Shaykh, if a person causes an accident that results in the death of one of the passengers, and the death of the person who caused it as well, is it obligatory for him to pay an expiation such that a slave is freed from his estate, or does his guardian fast on his behalf?
The Shaykh:
No, he does not owe a single expiation; rather, he owes expiations. If people died with him and he was among them, he owes an expiation for himself and expiations for the people who died with him—several expiations. However, it is necessary to determine the cause of the accident. If it was due to negligence on the part of the questioner, then he is liable for the guarantee in terms of the debt and the expiation. But if it was without negligence, if the accident occurred without any negligence on the part of the driver, then he owes nothing. Negligence is, for example, driving while asleep, or not being skilled, or not being skilled in driving, or speeding at a speed that exceeds what is safe, or colliding with cars, leaving his lane to enter the lane of other cars, or messing around. This makes him liable for the guarantee because he is the one who caused it suddenly. But if the accident occurred by divine decree and destiny, and there was no negligence on his part—such as if something is thrown from the car while it is moving, or if it bursts, or if the car bursts while he is driving, even though there were no defects in the car, but it burst from the driving or without any negligence on his part—then he owes nothing, because he is not negligent. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: He drives in a controlled manner and is skilled in driving, and there is no type of defect. And he did not know that there was a defect in the car, so he did not find any defect in it.
The Shaykh:
Then this is not justified, and he owes nothing.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب حد السرقة — islamhouse.com (1:10:40)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.