state that a person benefits only from what he himself has striven for. Our teacher, Ibn Taymiyyah, preferred and regarded this line of reasoning as the soundest.

Disagreement among the scholars
Scholars have differed over making up fasts on behalf of the deceased, and they hold three views:

1. Nothing is ever made up for him. This is the position of the three Imams—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Ḥanīfah.
2. Both vowed fasts and fasts that are originally mandatory under the Law may be made up. This is the position of Aḥmad.
3. Only vowed fasts, not those obligatory in their own right, are to be made up. This is the view of the people of ḥadīth, championed by Ibn Ḥazm and al-Bayhaqī and adopted by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī, citing the ḥadīth: “Whoever dies owing fasting, his heir should fast on his behalf.” Agreed upon.

Is it obligatory to fulfill a deceased person’s vowed fast? There are three opinions:
• The majority hold that the heir’s making up the fast is recommended, not obligatory.
• The Ẓāhirīs deem it obligatory, acting on the ḥadīth of Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.
• The Ḥanbalīs say: if the deceased left an estate, making it up is obligatory; if not, it is recommended. They further state that if someone other than the heir fasts, the obligation is discharged.

Our jurists add: If a person dies owing a vowed fast, pilgrimage, retreat, or prayer, it is recommended for his heir to perform it on his behalf, for deputizing another in worship is allowed in proportion to the act’s relative lightness, and a vow is lighter in ruling than a duty that is obligatory in its own right.

If he leaves an estate, fulfilling the vow becomes mandatory; the heir should either perform it himself or pay someone who will.

All of this concerns one who was able to carry out the act—meaning that enough time had elapsed for him to do so—yet he did not. In such a case the act is to be performed on his behalf, for it remains a liability like any debt to be settled from his estate.

If the vow-maker leaves no estate, nothing is binding on the heir by consensus, though it is recommended to perform the act so that the deceased’s liability is cleared.

Here, the “heir” (walī) refers to the inheriting relative. Al-Nawawī explains: The walī is a close relative, either by agnatic ties or by lineage, whether he is an heir or not.