Hiring a person to offer prayers

1542. After the death of a person, another person can be engaged to offer, on payment of wages, those prayers and other acts of worship which the dead person did not offer during his lifetime. And it is also in order if a person offers the services without taking payment for it.

1543. A person can accept engagement to offer some Mustahab acts like Ziyarat, Umrah, Hajj, on behalf of the living persons. Also he can perform some Mustahab acts, and dedicate their thawab to living or dead persons.

1544. A person who is hired to offer the qadha prayers of a dead person, should be a Mujtahid, or should know the rules of the prayers correctly according to Taqleed, or should act according to precaution, provided that he knows fully on what occasions precaution is to be observed.

1545. At the time for making niyyat, the hired person must specify the dead person, but it is not necessary that he should know his/her name. Hence, it is enough if he intends: "I am offering prayers for the person on whose behalf I am hired."

1546. The hired person should act with the niyyat that he is acting to discharge the obligation of the dead person. It will not be enough if he performs and dedicates its thawab to the dead person.

1547. One who hires a person, should be satisfied that the hired person will perform the act for which he is hired.

1548. If it transpires that the person hired for offering prayers for a dead person has not performed it, or has performed incorrectly, another person should be hired for the purpose.

1549. If a person doubts whether or not the hired person has performed the act, and in spite of the hired person's assurance, he is not satisfied, he must hire another person. But if he doubts whether or not the hired person has performed it correctly, he should presume that it has been correct.

1550. A person who has some excuse (for example, if he offers prayers with tayammum or in a sitting position) should never be hired for offering prayers for a dead person, even if the prayers of the dead person may have become qadha that way.

1551. A man can be hired on behalf of a woman, and a woman can be hired on behalf of a man, and in the matter of offering prayers loudly or silently, the hired person should act according to his/her own obligation.

1552. Observing order is not obligatory for the qadha prayers of a dead person, except in the case of prayers whose performance is prescribed in an order, like, Zuhr and Asr prayers or Maghrib and Isha prayers of one day, as has been mentioned earlier.

1553. If it is agreed with the hired person that he will accomplish it in a particular manner, the hired person should follow the agreement. If nothing has been agreed, then he can perform according to his own obligation.
And the recommended precaution is that between his own obligation and that of the dead person, he should choose that which is nearer to precaution - for example if the obligation of the dead person was to say tasbihat arba'ah (recital of the third or fourth Rak'at while standing) three times, and his own obligation is to say it once, he should recite three times.

1554. If it is not agreed with the hired person how many Mustahab acts he will perform, he should perform as much as is usual.

1555. If a person engages several people for offering the qadha prayers of a dead person, it is necessary, as explained in rule no.1552, that he should fix a time for each one of them.

1556. If, a hired person agrees to offer the prayers of a dead person within one year, but he dies before the year ends, another person should be hired to offer the uncompleted prayers. And if he feels that the hired person probably did not offer some prayers, even then, as an obligatory precaution, another person should be hired.

1557. If a person hired for offering the prayers of a dead person, dies before offering all the prayers, and if he had taken wages for all the prayers, if the hirer has placed a condition that he would offer all the prayers himself, the hirer can take back the proportionate amount of wages for the remaining prayers.
Or he can cancel the contract and pay an adequate sum. And if it was not agreed that the hired person would offer all the prayers himself, then the heirs of the deceased should pay from his estate, and engage another person to complete the task. And if there is nothing in the estate, it is not obligatory upon the heirs.

1558. If the hired person dies before offering all the qadha prayers of the dead, and if he himself had some qadha of his own, if there is any residue from his estate after acting according to the above rule, someone should be hired to perform all his qadha if he has willed, and his heirs give permission. And if they do not permit, his one-third (thuluth) should be spent for the qadha prayers.