Buying and Selling: Ruling on Guardianship Rights Over Children’s Blood Money

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Buying and Selling: Ruling on Guardianship Rights Over Children’s Blood Money

English:

Question #1482:

My husband was killed in a traffic accident. The driver of the car involved in the accident was my husband’s friend. As a result, I have become the shar‘ī guardian of my children:

1) Should I demand blood money from the driver of the car, or ask him to follow the claim up with the insurance company?

2) Is it permissible for me to have a free hand in the property of the children for holding a memorial service for their dead father?

3) Have I the right to forgo the children’s right to the blood money?

4) Suppose I have forgone their right, yet they do not agree with the decision once they become ritually mature, could I be obliged to compensate them with the blood money?

Answer #1482:

1) Should the driver be liable in shar‘ to pay the blood money, it is incumbent on you, as the guardian of your children, to preserve their shar‘ī rights by demanding it from those who should pay such money. The same goes for their right insofar as the insurance claim is concerned if the children are entitled to compensation.

2) It is not permissible to spend the money bequeathed to the children by their father on holding a memorial service.

3) You have no right to forgo the children’s right to the blood money which is against their interest.

4) After they have become ritually mature, they have every right to claim the blood money.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Buying and Selling