If a man dies and he has a fast for the expiation of killing, is it permissible for his community to fast on his behalf?
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The questioner : Noble Shaykh, if a man dies and he has a fast for the expiation of killing.
The Shaykh : And what is upon him?
The questioner : He has a fast for the expiation of killing.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Do a group of his relatives fast, meaning: they distribute the fasting among themselves?
The Shaykh : The expiation for killing is freeing a slave, and if he does not find one, then fasting two consecutive months. The requirement of consecutiveness necessitates that the one fasting be a single person, because if, for example, ten people fast, each for six days, none of them has fasted two consecutive months. Even if they were to take turns, meaning that when one fasts six days, the second begins on the seventh day, and when he completes six days, the third begins on the thirteenth day, it would not suffice, because it cannot be said of any one of them that he fasted what? Two consecutive months. Two consecutive months. This is unlike making up missed days of Ramadan, where if a person dies and he has days of Ramadan remaining, there is no harm in multiple people fasting them on his behalf, even if they fast them on the same day.
The Shaykh : And what is upon him?
The questioner : He has a fast for the expiation of killing.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Do a group of his relatives fast, meaning: they distribute the fasting among themselves?
The Shaykh : The expiation for killing is freeing a slave, and if he does not find one, then fasting two consecutive months. The requirement of consecutiveness necessitates that the one fasting be a single person, because if, for example, ten people fast, each for six days, none of them has fasted two consecutive months. Even if they were to take turns, meaning that when one fasts six days, the second begins on the seventh day, and when he completes six days, the third begins on the thirteenth day, it would not suffice, because it cannot be said of any one of them that he fasted what? Two consecutive months. Two consecutive months. This is unlike making up missed days of Ramadan, where if a person dies and he has days of Ramadan remaining, there is no harm in multiple people fasting them on his behalf, even if they fast them on the same day.