If someone were to say: The Prophet’s statement, “His guardian should fast on his behalf,” is a command; what then diverts it from indicating obligation?

The answer is that it is diverted from obligation by Allah’s saying: “No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.” [al-An‘am 6:164] If we held that making up the fast on behalf of the deceased were obligatory, then failing to make it up would entail one bearer bearing the burden of another, which contradicts what the Quran has conveyed.

Therefore, it is recommended for his guardian to make it up on his behalf. If he does not do so, we say: Feed one needy person for each day, by analogy with an obligatory fast.

Question: If a person dies while an obligatory fast, prescribed by the Sharia itself, remains due from him, should it be made up on his behalf?

The answer is: It should not be made up on his behalf, because the author restricted this ruling to a vowed fast, and acts of worship are not subject to analogy. Moreover, analogy is not valid here either, because what becomes obligatory through a vow is lighter than what is obligatory by the Sharia itself; the weightier matter cannot be analogized to the lighter one. Thus, what becomes obligatory through a vow may be performed by proxy because it is lighter, unlike what is obligatory by the Sharia itself. (1) For a person is required to perform the latter by Allah, may He be exalted, whereas he is required to perform the former by himself: he imposed it upon himself, so it is lighter and may be performed by proxy.

Therefore, whoever dies while Ramadan fasting, an expiatory fast, or any other such fast remains due from him, it is not to be made up on his behalf.

The preponderant view is that whoever dies while obligatory fasting prescribed by the Sharia remains due from him