Expiation for accidental killing
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Question: Allah has decreed upon me a car accident in which I struck a person with my car while he was walking on foot. He was taken to the hospital suffering from the injury, stayed there for fifteen days, and then died. His family waived the blood money, and his minor children received thirty thousand riyals, as the fault was shared, with his share being forty percent.
My question is about fasting. Is it obligatory for me? Since I am a high school student, I may not be able to combine fasting with my studies. Is it sufficient for me to give charity or feed people? Is there any way out for me from fasting? Please advise us, may Allah reward you.
Answer: Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said:[An-Nisa 4:92] up to His saying: [Surat al-Nisa: 92].
There is no doubt that fasting is obligatory upon you, because you participated in the accidental killing of a soul. The expiation is obligatory upon the one who kills by mistake, whether he acted alone or participated in it. You mentioned that you participated to the extent of sixty percent. The point is that if he participated even by one percent or less, the expiation is upon him, due to the generality of the noble verse. Thus, fasting for two months is established in your liability, because the freeing of a slave is not available now, so you resort to the alternative, which is fasting. There is nothing else besides fasting. You perform it whenever you are able. If you are unable to do so at the present time, it remains in your liability, and you fast it when you are able. Studying is not a barrier to fasting; people fast while they are studying, especially in cold regions. Therefore, studying is not an excuse for leaving off fasting. If you, for example, wait for the cold seasons, such as winter, and fast during that time, there is no harm in that, with the shortness of the day, or with the cold, for example, which lightens the severity of fasting for you. The important thing is that you must fast, and you know best the appropriate time for you. The fasting remains in your liability until you perform it.
Question: It has no alternative, meaning that feeding people does not exist in the expiation for killing?
Answer: Allah the Exalted did not mention anything but two things: the freeing of a slave or fasting, whereas He mentioned three things in other expiations,This indicates that in the case of killing, nothing is sufficient except two things: the freeing of a slave or fasting.
My question is about fasting. Is it obligatory for me? Since I am a high school student, I may not be able to combine fasting with my studies. Is it sufficient for me to give charity or feed people? Is there any way out for me from fasting? Please advise us, may Allah reward you.
Answer: Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said:
And whoever kills a believer by mistake - then the freeing of a believing slave and a compensation payment presented to the
وَمَنْ قَتَلَ مُؤْمِنًا خَطَأً فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مُؤْمِنَةٍ وَدِيَةٌ مُسَلَّمَةٌ إِلَى أَهْلِهِthen [instead], a fast for two months consecutively
فَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ شَهْرَيْنِ مُتَتَابِعَيْنِThere is no doubt that fasting is obligatory upon you, because you participated in the accidental killing of a soul. The expiation is obligatory upon the one who kills by mistake, whether he acted alone or participated in it. You mentioned that you participated to the extent of sixty percent. The point is that if he participated even by one percent or less, the expiation is upon him, due to the generality of the noble verse. Thus, fasting for two months is established in your liability, because the freeing of a slave is not available now, so you resort to the alternative, which is fasting. There is nothing else besides fasting. You perform it whenever you are able. If you are unable to do so at the present time, it remains in your liability, and you fast it when you are able. Studying is not a barrier to fasting; people fast while they are studying, especially in cold regions. Therefore, studying is not an excuse for leaving off fasting. If you, for example, wait for the cold seasons, such as winter, and fast during that time, there is no harm in that, with the shortness of the day, or with the cold, for example, which lightens the severity of fasting for you. The important thing is that you must fast, and you know best the appropriate time for you. The fasting remains in your liability until you perform it.
Question: It has no alternative, meaning that feeding people does not exist in the expiation for killing?
Answer: Allah the Exalted did not mention anything but two things: the freeing of a slave or fasting, whereas He mentioned three things in other expiations,This indicates that in the case of killing, nothing is sufficient except two things: the freeing of a slave or fasting.