Leaving a Will: Fulfilling a Martyr’s Bequest for Missed Worship Without Burdening His Heirs

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Leaving a Will: Fulfilling a Martyr’s Bequest for Missed Worship Without Burdening His Heirs

English:

Question #1828:

In his will, a person has instructed that the prayer and fasting he missed during his lifetime should be performed after his death. He got martyred in the war, leaving behind a furnished house. If his possessions were to be sold to pay for hiring a person to do the job, this would leave his inheritors facing hardship, especially his fledgling children. What should the inheritors do about the will?

Answer #1828:

If the martyr did not leave any property, it is not obligatory on anyone to act upon the will. However, it is obligatory on the eldest son, among his children, to perform the missed prayer and fasting on behalf of his father when he reaches the age of shar‘ī puberty. If the deceased left behind an estate, one third of it should be spent in the avenues he prescribed. The need of the inheritors, and the fact that they are still young, are not shar‘ī reasons for not complying with the will.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Leaving a Will